The Crane's Destructive Path
by TommyOliverMMPRFan
Summary: Part I of the Project Phoenix series. Due to some decisions she made while she was a teenager and Power Ranger, Kimberly Ann Hart is now paying a supreme price, and has become a vicious, violent, ruthless weapon of destruction capable of wiping out the entire galaxy. How did Kimberly's life go from riches to rags? This is her story.
1. Prologue: Eltar Falls, Again

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here) which is going to become more evident later. It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie. If you like cute, cuddly Kim, then this may not be the story for you. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. This story details her conquests and how she turned from Kimberly Ann Hart to who she is now.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Prologue – Eltar Falls, Again

 **May 2010**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

 **Eltar**

Rhiannon, Eltar's queen, could hardly believe what she was seeing.

She stared in horror at her palace…which is the place she calls home. Or rather, what used to be her home.

In a matter of hours, she'd lost everything she owned.

Her rulership, her soldiers, her possessions, her whole livelihood had all been gone and she'd barely had time to gather defense of the planet.

What made it even more galling is that she'd lost her own planet and many people she loved to someone she'd wanted to meet for many, many years.

The woman who had once been the surrogate daughter of her best friend Zordon, and the heart and soul of his team of Power Rangers, had just conquered her, and Zordon's, beloved planet like it was nothing at all.

The attack had come straight out of left field too. No one had seen it coming. She had conquered a few planets but none of them near Eltar's jurisdiction.

The woman formerly known as Kimberly Ann Hart, now known as Queen Flammia (which as Rhiannon came to understand was the Latin translation on Earth for the word fire...which was a perfect description for the head of this army), had dropped off the face of the Earth after Maligore had resurfaced.

Lerigot's attempt to free her had failed thanks to some things that went on in her life, and the last most around the galaxy heard of her, she was allegedly a rising force in Dark Specter's ranks. Shouldn't Zordon's sacrifice have freed her of that burden?

Whatever the case, the evil was still very much there, and her forces had been forced to surrender to Flammia's massive army like it was nothing at all. Eltar hadn't seen Power Rangers in thousands and thousands of years, and the defense of the planet was nothing like it was before. For a planet that had held great significance to the woman whose body Maligore possessed it had been relatively easy to conquer.

She had to escape and get somewhere to notify someone, anyone of what exactly had just happened. If she didn't do it fast, then it could happen to someone else. Fortunately, she got out of the city made it to her ship without being relatively seen much; Flammia's forces had been mainly centrally located in the capital city for now and she had a ship in hiding just for situations like this.

Quickly, she boarded her ship and activated the ship's DECA like system, named Zordina after Zordon's daughter who was one of Eltar's last great warriors.

"Zordina, we need to get out of here fast. Cloak my ship and set a course for Aquitar please. It's not safe to be here anymore," Rhiannon said.

"Course for Aquitar set," Zordina droned as the ship took off into the air. Moments later the ship was in space, and Rhiannon breathed a sigh of relief. "Would you like me to get in touch with Delphine, Rhiannon?"

"Wait a moment, I want to make sure I'm not walking into a trap," Rhiannon said. "Scan Aquitar for all evil."

"Scan initiated," droned Zordina. It took a few minutes and it didn't come without Eltar's former queen holding her breath. Finally the scan was complete.

"No evil detected on the planet," Zordina droned.

"Good. Get us there max speed, and call Delphine or any of the Alien Rangers; we need to speak to them immediately."

Before she made the call to Delphine, the leader of the Alien Rangers of Aquitar, she reread the prophecy over and over and over again, known as the Phoenix Prophecy. Many of the events had already come to pass.

 _ **During a time of war, an intergalactic being**_

 _ **Feared by many worlds**_

 _ **Will attack Earth**_

 ** _Six warriors, all chosen by the legendary Zordon_**

 ** _Will rise to combat this evil_**

 ** _The courageous Frog, the cunning, fierce Bear_**

 ** _The silent, sure Wolf, the strong Ape_**

 ** _The agile Crane and the just Falcon, the Winged Lord and Lady of the Skies_**

 ** _Will stand in the way of his rule, and the rule of two arch nemeses_**

 ** _Through unforeseen circumstances_**

 ** _Two of them will part ways, and the team's heart will fall to the power of the darkness_**

 ** _Which will put this power holder's very soul on the brink of extinction_**

There was more.

 ** _From the very loins of the wings of the Ninjetti_**

 ** _Will come a powerful warrior_**

 ** _This warrior will embody his very animal spirit, the mighty Phoenix_**

 ** _Trained in the ways of the Samurai, but with the Ninjetti in his blood_**

 ** _If the sacrifice of the immortal one does not end the heart's curse_**

 ** _Then the Phoenix must rise and lead his troops into battle_**

 ** _To join forces with his father and the other holders of the Great Power_**

 ** _And the holders of the Dino Gems_**

 ** _Only the fire of the Phoenix, with his adopted sister and five other charges  
_**

 ** _Combined with the original power teams and and the holders of the dinosaurs_**

 ** _Can save the universe, once and for all_**

 ** _This prophecy does not foretell the fate of the Phoenix's mother, the agile Crane_**

 ** _What is to happen to her is not yet known nor has it been recorded._**

Suddenly, it finally clicked in Rhiannon's head.

She had been trying to figure out the Phoenix's prophecy for many years. For many years some of the parts of the prophecy made sense, but not the majority of it.

With the return of the woman that was formerly known as Kimberly Ann Hart, it made perfect sense.

Zordon's sacrifice had obviously been unsuccessful in freeing the Crane. Why this was, she did not know yet.

This meant only one thing. There was only one hope left, and if this hope failed, then the entire universe was doomed.

That ignited another burning question. Who was the Phoenix, and where was he? Or was it even a he?

Because if he was dead too, then it almost certainly meant the entire universe was doomed, if the prophecy was to be believed. And history recorded that prophecies almost always turned out true.

Regardless, she needed to get to Aquitar stat. Then, she suddenly realized, she needed to get to Phaedos to see Dulcea. She only hoped that the Great Power had not been attacked as well. The atrocity that happened today could not go unnoticed.

 **Eltarian Capital Palace**

 **Same Time**

Having conquered the planet without a hitch (she honestly couldn't believe how easy it had been...some planet this was) Queen Flammia had begun to make herself very comfortable in her new throne room.

To date, this had been by far the biggest notch in her belt. Having been off the grid for a long time, she had been able to conquer other small planets, but no one had really noticed as she built her army through the years.

Thus, no one had really seen it coming when she launched her attack on Eltar. Her army was no picnic either. They were all tough and to be reckoned with; she had been a rising force in Dark Specter's army shortly after being corrupted by Maligore, then set off on her own after Dark Specter's death.

Not only did she hate the Earth Rangers and particularly Katherine with a burning passion (she knew she'd get them back one day when they didn't expect it), she'd proven her chops early with her intellect.

Her early conquests hadn't seemed like much, but with the help of Scorpina (the leader of her army) and her daughter Nepa (a Latin translation for scorpion) who she'd hired early on, she'd conquered small planets that had rich treasures and monetary value, and and thus she had earned more than enough money and riches to be able to trade for top of the line soldiers and weaponry.

For years, aliens and residents of Onyx, the place where all the dirty, smelly, foul trash of the universe went, had wondered where all the good hires had gone.

The one formerly known as the Pink Ranger of Earth had them. Only a select few knew but those who did knew it was best to stay out of her way because like in her Ranger days, she had a quick fuse.

Now, Eltar knew, and soon Earth and the entire galaxy would too.

"I really must commend you, my Lady," Scorpina hissed as she looked over at Flammia, then to Flammia's second in command. His name was Draco, the literal Latin translation for Dragon. He was a sight to behold; he was a massive black dragon with deadly teeth that could cut through any sort of Ranger armor, no matter the protection, razor sharp spikes that could kill anyone instantly, and could breathe blazing hot fire that would spread for miles around.

"Your plan has been brilliant all along. You promised me a front row seat to the destruction of Zordon's legacy and while I didn't see your vision initially, for the first time in many years, I actually think it's going to happen," Scorpina said.

"Yes, with the army we have, Zordon's brats will never know what hit them when we attack Earth," Draco boomed, his voice reverberating throughout the palace. "I hope they are enjoying their peaceful lives because it's all about to come to an end."

"Yes Draco, Scorpina but we need to do what we always do before we go any place else; we must see if we can make our army stronger. Vipera, come here," Flammia commanded. Instantly, a humanoid female dressed in snake skin, complete with a viper head helmet, entered the room. She was third in command behind Scorpina and Draco, and she was not to be messed with either.

Everyone in the entire universe had been shocked when Vipera had come off the market; she was one of the deadliest warriors in the universe but turned down almost every job offer. Now, she was the one laughing at everyone.

"Yes my Lady?" Vipera said.

"You know what to do," Flammia said. "Anything of monetary value, bring it here. If anyone gets in your way, show them what it means to mess with me."

"Yes my Lady," Flammia said as she turned to her viper army. "Vipers, let's head out!"

As the possessed body of Kimberly Ann Hart made herself comfortable in the latest addition of conquered planets, deep inside the recesses of her body, almost forgotten, the small part of Kimberly that still believed in the side of good could only sigh.

For two straight years, in the mid 1990s, everything had gone splendidly. Yeah, her parents' marriage was always on the rocks it seemed but she had everything she ever wanted; the best friends in the world, the ability to chase her dreams, the boyfriend of a lifetime and a love that only came around every so often.

Ironically enough, realizing her dreams now could cost all the people she'd known and still loved everything they ever held dear.

The holder of the Crane had gone from having everything she ever wanted, to this pitiful, helpless state where she could do nothing about what her body was doing.

As her body sat there in glee, she wondered aloud. How did something so right become so wrong?

Kimberly Ann Hart had become Lady Flammia, a vicious, destructive force.

This is her story.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	2. 1: The Beginning of the End

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here) which is going to become more evident later. It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. This story details her conquests and how she turned from Kimberly Ann Hart to who she is now. This story includes parts of The Movie (which coincide with her pregnancy), and the birth of Jayden.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 1 – The Beginning of the End

 **May 2010**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

 **Eltar**

As Kimberly Hart's corrupted, possessed body body sat on her new throne in glee, the small part of her that still believed in the side of light wondered aloud. How did something so right become so wrong?

Looking back on it, the beginning of the end for her and everything she'd ever held dear had, ironically, came with the birth of her child. A child that she wasn't sure even still existed. That singular time had been the most stressful, happiest time of her life. It had also been the start of a chain of events that led to the beginning of her end. Ironically, the seeds of her demise had started with the fight against Ivan Ooze and the events that surrounded that battle.

 **April 1995**

 **Phaedos**

 **As the Rangers retired for the evening, they were more determined than ever to win this battle.**

 **The first round against Ivan hadn't gone well; the power of Thunder couldn't measure up to the powers Ooze possessed.**

 **They would leave in the morning for their quest, knowing what was at stake. On Phaedos, they could afford to rest, knowing that several hours here didn't take near as long on Earth.**

 **Kimberly prepared to drift off to sleep and soon fell asleep much quicker than the others, which hadn't gone unnoticed by Dulcea. As Dulcea watched Kimberly from her owl form, she felt some weird readings coming from Kimberly, but no, that couldn't be what was happening now.**

 **She knew the prophecy of the Phoenix; knew it by heart. But, it was a prophecy that had never come true.**

 **But then again, the Crane had chosen Kimberly and the Falcon had chosen Tommy. Could it really be happening, right now?**

 **Still, she wanted to make sure and before the Rangers left for their quest, she would take Kimberly aside.**

 **Kimberly, meanwhile, had fallen asleep very quickly with Tommy in her arms. The two were very close, as Dulcea could see. This was no surprise; the Crane and Falcon were soulmates, and as the two of them would later learn, were the heart of the Ninjetti.**

 **A few hours later...**

 **Kimberly, still fast asleep, felt somebody shake her awake, which startled Tommy as well. Both of them instantly knew who it was though.**

 **"Dulcea, shouldn't we be getting some rest?" Kimberly yawned.**

 **"I noticed that you, in particular, fell asleep much quicker than the rest of the Rangers, Kimberly," Dulcea said. "How have you been feeling health wise lately?"**

 **"Come to think of it, she did puke pretty bad a couple days ago," Tommy said as he groggily stood up. "She's also been eating quite a bit more frequently than she even does."**

 **"I'm embarrassed to admit, we did go...um, all the way a couple weeks ago," Tommy stuttered. "We are very much in love."**

 **"Ah young love," Dulcea said, smiling just a bit which surprised Tommy. "I take it you are surprised by my reaction."**

 **"Kind of, yeah," Tommy said. "My parents would kill me if they find out what we did a number of weeks ago."**

 **"Yeah, there was this trip to Australia, it was spring break...Zedd and Rita came back and we got trapped in a theater...and Tommy was so happy we won that...we took it a little far," Kim said.**

 **"Those acts at such a young age are not uncommon," Dulcea said. "Do not be ashamed or alarmed. I just want to check something, Kimberly and then I will let you get back to sleep. Young Falcon, you should probably come with both of us."**

 **Unseen by the fast asleep Rangers, the three of them walked a short distance away and Dulcea mentally searched both of them for several minutes.**

 **'It is finally happening,' Dulcea realized. 'The Phoenix Prophecy is beginning to take shape.'**

 **She then considered next what she should tell them. Could she tell them about the prophecy now?**

 **No, that wouldn't be the best course of action, she decided. The prophecy had to play out and the events were fixed. Any changes to the prophecy could be catastrophic. But she could tell them what she found.**

 **"There is no question about it, young Crane," Dulcea said. "This is a momentous occasion. You are pregnant."**

 **"My gosh...pregnant...how long?" Kimberly gasped.**

 **"I would say approximately five weeks along," Dulcea said. "It is a good thing I caught it early. You should be proud. Your child will one day have immense power just like the both of you."**

 **"God and I'm going to have to be pregnant and go up against Ivan Ooze," Kimberly breathed, "not to mention radiator face and Rita once they get control again."**

 **"That is not an issue, Kimberly," Dulcea said. "I am preparing to cast a spell that will not only keep anyone but the Rangers and Zordon out of the loop of this development, but also this spell will also protect your child in any upcoming fights that will take place."**

 **Dulcea then concentrated and there was a brief flash over the two young warriors, but neither doubted the spell was done. From the moment they'd met Dulcea, they could tell she had powers and knew how to use them.**

 **"The only other thing I will say is this," Dulcea said. "Because of your Ninjetti powers, be prepared for an early birth. What is the normal pregnancy period for Earthlings?"**

 **"35 to 40 weeks from what I've read," Kimberly said.**

 **"Because of the powers you have just received, that may accelerate the pregnancy process by a number of weeks," Dulcea said. "That's how powerful this child is going to be. If this child were to ever fall into evil hands, it would result in a chain of events that could destroy the universe as we know it."**

 **"Now Rangers, you must rest. Go, and save Zordon. May the Power protect you," Dulcea said and soon, the two young warriors were back where they had been before, and really, no one had even noticed. That would soon change though.**

 **24 hours later**

 **Even after everything they'd done, it still all felt hollow.**

 **Yes, they'd defeated Ivan Ooze. They'd saved the world, again, but on a much bigger, grander scale.**

 **It still felt like a loss, because they had been too late.**

 **Their mentor, their father, the man who had given them the chance to be something more than themselves...was dead.**

 **One by one, the tears rolled down all their cheeks as they surrounded their now deceased mentor. None of them felt they could go on anymore.**

 **That was...until Tommy spoke up.**

 **"Remember what we learned?" Tommy said with determination. "To all those who possess the Great Power...all things are possible."**

 **Could it really happen? Could they bring him back?**

 **One thing was for sure...they had to try.**

 **As they all joined hands, six animal spirits arose to try to rouse the Rangers mentor. A frog, a bear, a wolf, an ape, a falcon, and a crane sprang forward and converged in a bright flash of light. Then the weirdest thing happened. A loud squawk was heard, and a raging Phoenix appeared and joined the fray.**

 **The Rangers were momentarily startled but kept their focus. They couldn't afford to fail now.**

 **Slowly but surely, the ground the Rangers considered sacred was rebuilt, and suddenly the effects that Ivan had placed on Zordon were being reversed. The Rangers smiled...Tommy had been right...**

 **30 minutes later...**

 **The joy was evident on all the Rangers faces. The miracle had happened, Zordon was alive, and their precious Command Center had been rebuilt.**

 **Yet, the question remained. Dulcea had never mentioned a Phoenix...and it had come from Kim's body. It couldn't possibly be, could it?**

 **Zordon had felt it too, of course. He was obviously happy he was still alive, but he also knew what was about to happen. He was going to let his Rangers enjoy the moment, but he also knew what awaited them.**

 **"So, yeah, that thing about the Phoenix..." Aisha said. "The heck was that about?"**

 **"Yes, it presents an interesting conundrum," Billy said. "Dulcea never said anything about the Phoenix."**

 **"That's because you haven't met him yet," Kimberly said. "Guys...remember the trip to Australia? The one where Rita came back and married radiator face?"**

 **All of them nodded. Half of them hadn't even faced Rita yet though they'd heard about her on the news, so they knew how deadly she was.**

 **"Well...after that fight...Tommy and I, we were so ecstatic...we went all the way," Kimberly said which elicited shocked gasps from four of her teammates, and a slight smile from Zordon. "Guys...I'm pregnant...Dulcea told me, five weeks along."**

 **"Kim, you can't!" Rocky said. "Who knows when Zedd or Rita will come back! You'll have to fight them carrying a baby!"**

 **"THAT IS WHY IF THERE IS ANY TIME FOR KIMBERLY TO BE IN THE PROCESS OF HAVING A CHILD, THIS IS THE PERFECT TIME, RANGERS," Zordon said. "ZEDD AND RITA WILL BE OUT OF COMMISSION FOR A WHILE, THANKS IN PART TO WHAT IVAN OOZE DID. HE TRAPPED THEM IN A GLOBE AND IT WILL TAKE THEM A WHILE TO RECOVER AGAIN."**

 **"Well I guess if there is one thing that disgusting slime ball was good for, it's that," Rocky said.**

 **"Still, this isn't good, Kim," Aisha said. "Gosh, I wouldn't do that to Rocky at such a young age!"**

 **"EASY, MY FIERCE BEAR," Zordon said. "WHILE IT MAY BE UNSEEMLY BY EARTH CUSTOMS TO GO ALL THE WAY AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE, I MYSELF DID IT. I NO LONGER LOVE, BUT I DID GO ALL THE WAY WHEN VERY YOUNG. SOME OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE GALAXY ARE NOT THE SAME AS ON EARTH."**

 **"IN ADDITION, I WILL HAVE TO TALK TO DULCEA BUT I SENSE SHE PLACED A PROTECTION SPELL THAT WILL REMOVE THE BABY FROM ANY HARM KIMBERLY SUFFERS, AND WILL ALSO KEEP THE KNOWLEDGE OF THIS CHILD TO OUR INNER CIRCLE," Zordon said.**

 **"Yeah and thank God for that, Kim's mother believes in abortions," Aisha said. "I just know she'd force Kim to abort this child."**

 **"That's why that's never going to happen and that's why Dulcea's smart," Tommy said.**

 **"I SUGGEST YOU GO ON WITH YOUR LIVES, AND KIMBERLY, YOU MAY INFORM ME WHEN YOU FEEL IT IS CLOSE TO TIME FOR DELIVERY," Zordon said.**

The thoughts and reflections of Kimberly (or whatever was left of her) then shifted to when her actual child was born and she had to give up her child. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that with Zedd and Rita still on the loose and the new arrival of Rito Revolto that her child could not be allowed to stay.

In Kimberly's opinion, these events were the start of karma kicking her in the ass, time and again. 20 years worth of it, or whatever. She wasn't even sure what Earth year she was in quite frankly, her body had been in space so long and the days and years differences in Earth and other planets were night and day.

 **Flashback**

 **Sept. 9, 1995**

 **The Command Center**

 **Angel Grove, CA**

 **Most Saturday afternoons were special to Zordon's Rangers. But this one was extra special.**

 **Saturday afternoons were usually a good time to unwind after a long week (especially if it was a school week, which would be starting a week from Monday), and history showed that many Saturday afternoons did not come with monster attacks either. The Rangers were on call 24/7 as always but most Saturdays villains didn't attack...at least not Rita and Zedd.**

 **However, this Saturday had come with a first.**

 **The official birth of the first "Ranger child," that was. Perhaps the Rangers anticipated this may happen ten years down the road, but not now. Not when they were all still teenagers.**

 **That said, it had happened, and as Dulcea had warned it had come significantly sooner than most pregnancy cycles thanks to the powers Tommy and Kim now possessed. Jayden David Oliver had been born at just past 10 a.m. that morning; Kim had caught the ultimate break seeing that her mother was in Paris seeing her new fiance, so Kim had full run of the house at the time.**

 **The moment she felt her water starting to break, she had gone to the Command Center immediately, where a specialist from Eltar had been brought to handle the birthing which had gone off without a hitch.**

 **It was now mid-afternoon, and the day had been a full day. Including the birth, there had also been a party to celebrate the newborn child. Kim and Tommy had also both had private baby showers during the run-up to Jayden's birth. To make it even more special, Jason, Zack and Trini had been informed by Kim during this hectic time, and earlier that day they had been called back to the Command Center from Geneva to pay witness to the newborn.**

 **Unfortunately, the time was here that no one wanted, but everyone knew had to happen. With Rita and Zedd still on the loose, and Rito now in their ranks, there could be no chances taken.**

 **"Zordon, you're sure this family and this Ji guy is trustworthy?" Jason said, facing his old mentor. "I mean, Tommy and Kim appointed me to be the godfather for heaven's sake."**

 **"HE IS, JASON," Zordon said. "IN FACT, JI HAS BEEN A MENTOR LIKE ME FOR MANY YEARS AND THIS FAMILY THAT I WILL BE SENDING JAYDEN TO HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR A CHILD THEMSELVES FOR QUITE SOME TIME. I CAN'T REVEAL ALL THE DETAILS NOW, BUT JAYDEN WILL EVENTUALLY BE NEEDED THERE FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE."**

 **"Ninjor and Dulcea also consider him very trustworthy, bro," Tommy said. "That counts for a lot in my book."**

 **"I WILL LET YOU HAVE A FEW FINAL MOMENTS WITH YOUR CHILD, TOMMY AND KIMBERLY," Zordon said. "NINJOR WILL BE ARRIVING SHORTLY TO TAKE THE CHILD TO JI AND THE PARENTS, AS IT MAY RAISE SUSPICIONS IF JI CAME DIRECTLY."**

 **Zordon sadly smiled; he wished he could come to know the first "Ranger child" but he also knew the prophecy and that it had to be fulfilled. He recalled the line in the prophecy that was about to take place...**

 _ **Trained in the ways of the Samurai but with the Ninjetti in his blood...**_

 **Zordon knew young Jayden would be in good hands; the Shiba family and the Samurai Power Rangers of the past had always shown exemplary discipline.**

 **He just hoped that the events coming up would alleviate Jayden of the need to fight for his family. But he also knew that not all things went the way you wanted them.**

 **End Flashback**

Kimberly smiled sadly. She could only hope his son...if he was even alive, was OK. He just had to be.

To her, it was the beginning of karma kicking her in the ass, many times over. Those events, as happy as they had been at the time, had begun a great time of sorrow for her. It had been the start of her malaise...her curse, if you will.

Truth be told, she didn't hold anyone responsible for her actions but her.

Not Tommy...dear God, not her precious Falcon, who had always stood by her and yet she'd broken his heart in the most cruel of ways.

Not even Katherine, even though Maligore had used the events surrounding Kimberly and Katherine to fuel jealousy and help turn Kimberly dark. She didn't hate Katherine at all...just what she herself had become. She had after all trusted Kat with her power coin many years ago, and Kat had gone through so much shit as a Ranger. Kat didn't deserve anyone's contempt much less her own.

Certainly she didn't hate her other friends, and held nothing against Tanya and Justin. Both had turned out to be exemplary Rangers given the circumstances they entered into.

All of those former Rangers were almost certainly living better lives than her...all because she had been a naïve, immature girl who thought chasing her dreams was more important than the greater good.

She had never been more wrong as her thoughts shifted to her time in Florida training for Pan Globals...

If she could take anything back, it was that. If she had the choice all over again, she would have stayed and continued to fight the evil that came her way...

But as she knew, hindsight was 20/20 and she could never take that back even though she wished she could. In a perfect world she would also be with her child but she also knew there was no way she could have kept him.

Miami had almost been akin to the gateway to her own personal hell, as she recalled those long lonely days where she chased dreams and found nightmares instead...

A/N 4: As the tease indicates, the next chapter will detail what happens to Kimberly in Florida. In that chapter, the Highway to Hell for Kim continues as she finds out how cruel the world of international sports competition can be, and every dream she ever had about gymnastics, etc. crumbles into dust. Includes The Letter. Thus will set the table for the birth of Lady Flammia herself.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	3. 2: Dreams Turned to Dust

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here) which is going to become more evident later. It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. On we go with the next part of the story...Miami, which in large part sets the table for Kimberly's corruption. Yes, this includes The Letter. There is a death in this chapter, for the record.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 2 – Dreams Turned to Dust

 **May 2010**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

 **Eltar**

Upon reflection, Kim remembered that in the days and weeks following Jayden's birth, life had become hectic and in some ways, heartbreaking.

She remembered in particular the day she passed her powers to Kat, so she could chase her dream of representing her country as a gymnast. It was something she'd worked for all her life. Unfortunately, as she vividly recalled, not all lifetime dreams could become reality.

After she had passed her power coin on to Kat, Tommy had kissed her goodbye, helped see her onto a plane, and she'd left for Miami, where she fully expected to take the next step in her development as a person, possibly have a run where she could compete for gold medals, and possibly come home some day where she could see her son again and have a lifetime with Tommy.

Instead, Miami had become a house of horrors for her and was a place she never wanted to go near again for as long as she lived...The moment she stepped on that plane was the end of her two year blissful dream and the beginning of a nightmare that would span close to two decades...

 **Flashback**

 **January 1996**

 **Miami, Florida**

 **As the newcomer for the Pan Globals tryouts went through her routine, those who watched her perform stared at her, half in awe, and half in blatant trepidation.**

 **Where had Coach Schmidt found this newcomer? Better yet, why bring her in now, when so many of the athletes who were already competing were not only at the top of their game, but so close to realizing their dream?**

 **But the more and more the occupants of the room watched her routine, particularly the girls, fear crept into all their hearts. Not only was this newcomer as good as anybody they'd seen, she was without question good enough to send someone home and crush her dream, which otherwise would not have happened had Coach Schmidt not brought Kimberly in.**

 **Kimberly hadn't missed the jealousy-filled stares directed her way either. Being a Power Ranger for two years (of course, unknown to every single one of the occupants in the room, including her coach), her senses were trained to know when trouble was brewing. She wasn't concerned quite yet but her guard was very much up.**

 **Kim obviously didn't know it at the time but this was why a future Ranger for many years down the road would ditch a spot at swimming in the 2016 Olympics. The world of international sports was a cruel place, particularly swimming and women's gymnastics. That Ranger would also be part of a team that changed history but that's for another time.**

 **The one thing she'd figured out pretty quickly was that this wasn't a family...not like her old "family" back in California was. She wasn't surprised though, she knew for many years that women's gymnastics, of all the summer Olympic sports, was possibly the most cutthroat of them all.**

 **Every single one of the girls in the room (and guys for that matter) had been training for this all of their lives just as Kimberly had. A spot on the Pan-Global team could be parlayed, potentially, into a spot in the Olympics down the road.**

 **Kimberly knew good and well that even though she had the opportunity to realize her dream, that her competition would do anything to break her. While everyone lived together, and had a friendly facade, in the gym, anything could and usually did go.**

 **End Flashback**

Unfortunately for Kimberly, as she continued to flourish early on in her new environs, the fear continued to grow and grow among her competitors. She was good enough to make Pan-Globals and eventually the Olympics, and she knew it. So did her competition as well.

Thus, it wasn't long before the insults started coming. They started a few weeks after she arrived in Florida, and then they just went nonstop as those who were trying to make the team started trying to break Kim mentally, since they couldn't do it physically.

 **"Hey Angel Grove girl, can you make me a monster?"**

 **"Hey short stuff, did Coach Schmidt have to fight through the Power Rangers to find you?"**

 **"Hey short stuff, that ponytailed freak has nothing on me. I could beat him in my sleep!"**

The male gymnasts got in on it too, often challenging her to a sparring match, and betting who could beat her the quickest.

Looking back, that hadn't bothered her so much. Men were men, and Tommy, Rocky and Jason had successfully taught her how to defend herself.

What they said about Tommy didn't bother her either; she laughed as no one really knew him. Quite frankly, she knew they were fortunate he was in California.

The Angel Grove stuff, however, had hurt her very much as Kim reflected on it. Kim did her best to not show it, but deep down it hurt her. It was as if those who were commenting on the Power Rangers and monster stuff really had no idea what they were talking about.

As someone who not only knew about it, but was in the middle of it, in her heart she was deeply hurt, then and now.

And oh, they all knew about Tommy too and they threw insults about him in Kim's face as well. Kim hadn't been shy about saying she had a boyfriend back in California; they'd all seen the photo. Kim then remembered her roommate Jacqueline, who had been one of the only girls to stand behind her. Kim had poured her heart out to Jackie and Jackie felt for her but she also knew as did Kim that this was a mental ploy.

In Jackie's opinion, Kimberly though a new arrival lived up to the billing. She was confident, fluid and knew what she was doing every time she performed. She was Olympic material but her competitors were pissed at not only her but Coach Schmidt that he'd brought her in so late.

Kimberly did quite well for a while, but as the days and weeks went by, and the catcalls and insults started to pick up with rapid steam and the competition got hot and heavy, she felt a lot of pressure.

It hadn't helped that things on the other side of the continent were quite hectic as Tommy and the Rangers had been busy with Master Vile (and nearly lost to him) and then King Mondo and his Machines on a daily basis. She knew she had spiritual support from Tommy, but things were so busy that she hadn't heard from him in a long while.

It got to the point that one brutal Friday after hours and hours of mental torture and training, Kimberly's mind was frazzled. Every one of the girls save for those who were in her corner had razzed her all day, trying to get her off her game. The pressure was mounting and she knew she had to do something to alleviate things.

That Friday night, when she and Jackie had gone out to the movies in Miami had been when her life began to change. Jackie had brought along her best friend Alex, who was a swimmer trying out for the Pan-Globals and Alex and Kim had hit it off immediately.

Kim then remembered those days, those excruciating days where she had thought and thought and thought some more about her new situation, which led her to make another decision that she wished she could take back...

 **Flashback**

 **Kim sighed glumly. This was going to be the hardest thing she ever had to do in her life.**

 **But she knew there was no other choice.**

 **She'd tried calling Tommy for advice before and after she met Alex, but every time he called was the same old thing. Not home. This Machine Empire thing had to be worse than Zedd and Rita combined if Tommy wasn't answering her phone calls...Not to mention he still had school...**

 **She still loved Tommy with all her heart. But she knew she couldn't continue to lean on him at all hours of the day. To a great extent, he was in her past and Alex was now her present. Thanks to Alex** **, she'd gotten back on track mentally and it seemed as if there would be no stopping her from her path to Pan-Globals. Every one of her competitors seemed to be resigned to that too. The more and more she trusted Alex, the better things became again.**

 **Then she had another factor to consider; her sweet child Jayden, who she hoped was in good hands. The last thing she needed was for any villain, current or future, to know about her child and his true heritage. If she was honest with herself, the best thing she could do right now was sever all ties with the Rangers for the time being...to protect that child.**

 **And that included no more Tommy. At least for the time being.**

 **In her heart, she trusted Kat a great deal too. She'd take care of him as best she could.**

 **This wasn't the ideal way to break up with the boy she loved first, but it would have to do since he was nowhere to answer his phone these days...**

 **Silently, she took out a piece of paper and a pen and began to write the words she would regret forever...**

 _ **'Dear Tommy,**_

 _ **Everything is going great in Florida...'**_

 **Every word she wrote after that cut her like a knife. But she knew in her heart that it had to be done. If she was going to realize her dream, then she had to let the past go. At least for the time being. Alex for the time being was her future as was being the best in the world at her craft. This was a dream she'd worked for all her life.**

 **A few hours later, she sent the letter off. The deed was done...**

 **End Flashback**

Unfortunately, the relief Kimberly got was to be temporary even though she would flourish for the next several months. As the tryouts were nearing their end, Kimberly was almost a sure lock to make the 1997 Pan-Global team. Sponsors were crawling all over her and she was America's new gymnastic sweetheart. However, while she was about to realize her dream, somebody else's dream would come crashing to a halt.

It was also well-known that Kimberly was going out with one of the swimmers and had been for a while. She really hadn't missed a beat since she'd broken up with that Tommy guy, and Alex had been a large reason for that. While Tommy was great, Alex, an import from San Antonio, had been there for her in ways others couldn't mainly because he understood her situation.

Like Kimberly, he'd been insanely talented when asked to come to Florida and try out but in the world of swimming, he too had to scratch and claw for every inch he'd gotten.

Both appeared ready to realize their lifelong dreams of representing their countries...until four days before the participants were announced when tragedy struck.

 **Flashback**

 **February 1997**

 **Kimberly's face, one moment jovial, had turned white as a sheet.**

 **One moment, she had been enjoying the movie she was watching with Alex.**

 **Then the next moment she heard two gunshots and instinctively ducked.**

 **There was no doubt there were two bullets in the side of Alex's head. There was no question in her mind that Alex was dead.**

 **The man she counted on to protect her post-Tommy, who had done a superlative job in that regard, was now gone.**

 **Almost one year to the day after she'd sent Tommy the letter, karma had kicked her in the ass for the first of many times.**

 **The only thing she could do was cry a million tears.**

 **End Flashback**

From there, things had begun to careen downhill for Kimberly. 24 hours later, she had one of the worst routines she'd ever done in her entire life and it was as if the stress and catcalls all came rushing back. She was fortunate she hadn't suffered a physical injury that day, although her mental injuries were apparent.

This time, she had nowhere else to turn.

She realized after that day that it just wasn't worth it to pursue her dream. The world of professional gymnastics was just too cutthroat for her, and it hadn't been worth it to get on that plane.

She suspected then, and suspected now that whoever had shot Alex and killed him was angry at not only Kim, but also the coaches. She also suspected that whoever was behind it was on the verge of being cut.

24 hours after that awful routine, she called Jason who had recently got back in the Ranger world then nearly lost his life helping Trey of Triforia. Jason immediately knew something was wrong and knew that he had to get his 'Little Sister' out of Florida before anything else happened.

That very day, she announced she was leaving the team, which sent shockwaves throughout the Pan-Global community. Coach Schmidt had been taken back a bit, but not surprised considering all that had happened. Kimberly had been his prized talent that he'd brought in to make the team better and the team hadn't responded well to it at all. He understood, and hoped that some day, Kimberly would be a coach of the sport.

Looking back on it, Kimberly thought that her hell was over with her departure from Miami. Oh but it was just beginning...

Meanwhile, Kimberly's possessed body had just woken up the first morning after her conquest. For Flammia, this had been as proud an accomplishment as she ever had.

She'd captured a few small planets, Edenoi and Inquiris being two of them. Those had been good planets to conquer, but as Flammia understood, those were not that significant for the Earth Rangers. Inquiris was where Dimitria was from, but to her understanding Tommy's Turbo team hated Dimitria. She'd conquered Edenoi, and the Masked Rider was her prisoner, but Alpha was long gone before she could capture him.

This was the first salvo that Lady Flammia intended to wreck all that Zordon's Rangers held dear...If Eltar didn't get their attention, then maybe KO-35 or Aquitar would...

She then pressed her hands to her forehead...

"Scorpina," Flammia's voice boomed.

"Yes, my Lady?" the half-scorpion humanoid said.

"Have you heard from Vipera yet?"

"Yeah, it's going to take her quite a while. Apparently this planet is loaded with monetary value. We are going to get some really good weapons and/or soldiers from this."

"Good. Tell her I want every last bit of monetary value from this planet, even more so than usual. In the meanwhile, I have a mission for you."

"And that would be?"

"Take a detachment of the army to KO-35 and add it to my collection. Do not fail me," Flammia said.

"It shall be done, my Lady."

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	4. 3: Hart Turned Black

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here) which is going to become more evident later. It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. The beginning of Lady Flammia starts here. A couple of notes to the anonymous guest reviewers:

geno: Yes, this story is going to touch a lot on karma/fate. Those are going to be two overlying themes of this story, that 1. what goes around comes around and 2. sometimes fate and fixed events can't be helped.

guest: Tommy will be in this chapter, although what happens here is going to be very sad. You won't see much of Tommy in this story after this chapter...this particular story is very Kim-centric.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 3 – Hart Turned Black

 **May 2010**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

 **Eltar**

"It shall be done my Lady," Scorpina said as she headed off for her mission to take over KO-35.

Deep inside the recesses of her body, what was left of Kimberly Ann Hart just sighed in defeat. She didn't like saying those words any more than if she'd said them in 1995, but she really could do nothing but just sit back and take it, like she'd done for the last 10 to 15 years.

What was important to know was that all the demon residing in her had been able to access thus far, for 13 years straight, was the side of her that made bad decisions and had been an immature, naive little girl. Granted, that girl was powerful enough to destroy worlds and potentially take over the cosmos, but it could have been so much worse had Dulcea (or at least her spirit) not intervened when Kimberly was preparing to fight to win her freedom.

She'd thought back to the time when the final phase of her life spiraling out of control had come to fruition. She'd thought she'd left hell back in Miami when Jason had come to see her and take her home. How wrong she had been.

 **Flashback**

 **First week of March, 1997**

 **Miami International Airport**

 **Miami, FL**

 **"Good afternoon, travelers, this is the pre-boarding call for flight 3448 from Miami to Los Angeles, California. We are now inviting those passengers with small children, and any passengers requiring special assistance, to begin boarding at this time."**

 **"I guess this is it," Kim said as she and Jason stood up. "Finally, I'm getting out of this place. Thank goodness."**

 **The tragedy with Alex and his funeral had happened approximately one week ago, which continued to tug at Kimberly's heart. It was really unfair that he had been caught in what, no doubt in her mind, was a desperate attempt to kill off the one thing that still kept Kimberly sane through everything.**

 **She had to admit though, the plan had worked. She was leaving, having realized that some dreams weren't meant to come true. Gymnastics would go on with or without her.**

 **Maybe she could go home and eventually patch things up with the guys. It was pretty clear the team wasn't the same without her. She could also guess they probably all hated her for what she did, and that she deserved every bit of it.**

 **She found it a little odd that only once she left the team did entities like Master Vile and now the Machine Empire set their sights on Earth.**

 **As Kimberly and Jason settled into their side-by-side seats on the plane (that was very sparsely populated if anything), Kimberly leaned over quietly to Jason and softly said, "So how would you compare the Machines to Zedd and Rita?"**

 **"As bad if not worse than them," Jason said, which made her cringe. "Do I like that Tommy never got in contact with you over the last year, no but he never really had time. The Machines have been attacking far more frequently than Zedd and Rita and they are far more massive than Rita and Zedd's army. They're just as cruel too."**

 **"Plus, I hope you were paying special attention to the announcement of small children boarding the plane," Jason said. "Shouldn't that remind you of someone?"**

 **Kimberly stopped short and gulped fearfully.**

 **Jayden.**

 **Her sweet baby child, Jayden, who right now would be a year and a half old or thereabouts. Jayden David Oliver, the sweetest and most beautiful baby she'd ever met.**

 **There was no way the Machines, Rita, Zedd, Vile, anyone could know about him. Not now, not ever.**

 **"Kim, I was so scared that the Machines were going to find out about Jayden and come after him, their technology is beyond anything you could dream of," Jason said in a low voice. "Gasket brainwashed Tommy's mind not long ago; I'm surprised they didn't find out about him when they wiped his mind. Bottom line, if you hadn't broken up with Tommy, I would have suggested Tommy do it first."**

 **Kim shivered when she thought about that day when Tommy had been brainwashed into thinking he worked for the Machine Empire. Though she and Tommy weren't together anymore, she could feel the hurt Tommy's animal spirit was in.**

 **Unfortunately she couldn't do anything to help. Zordon had thought about calling her back to free Tommy but believed it unwise...because no one could know about Jayden until the time came. Fortunately the Rangers had been lucky that day and had freed Tommy, but she knew that at some point, they wouldn't get as lucky as they got.**

 **March 14, 1997**

 **Angel Grove, CA**

 **It had been a week or two since Kimberly had returned to the LA area and things had finally begun to settle down now that she and Jason were into a routine once again. Jason agreed that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for Kim to go back into Angel Grove right away, so he allowed Kimberly to stay in his apartment in LA.**

 **They didn't sleep together, but Kimberly felt exceptionally secure by his side. Besides, Jason had another specific pink on his mind, which Kim was also unaware of...**

 **That was, even though that Pink was now dating Tommy. Jason had filled Kim in about Tommy's relationship with Katherine which was still ongoing. As much as Kim wanted to be disappointed, she really couldn't be.**

 **To her, it was her fault she couldn't be there for Tommy. She'd allowed for that possibility once she'd left for Florida and sent that letter. No, Tommy hadn't been home to answer her phone calls but he'd had school and the Machine Empire to deal with. Not to mention, Jason had told Kim about Tommy's biological brother, David, who Tommy had just recently become close with again.**

 **In the end, she was happy for Tommy that he was continuing to carry on, although it couldn't have been easy. Inwardly, she thanked Katherine for being there for Tommy when she couldn't be. Although, a significant part of her wished it was still she by Tommy's side.**

 **Kim also helped at times with a part-time receptionist position at the police department where Jason was at, so that helped put a little more money in her pocket. Her work was early in the morning, but Kim was used to getting up early in the morning for gymnastics, so it wasn't a problem at all.**

 **It was a Friday by that time, and Jason had a rare day off. He'd graduated a semester early, and thanks in part to connections he developed in Angel Grove and in Geneva, he was quickly accepted to the police force. He had proven to be an asset right off the bat, but his superiors had seen fit to give him a day off.**

 **It also happened to be the Friday before the Rangers still in school were to be on spring break, and very soon, Kimberly and Jason had every intention of surprising the gang.**

 **Part of the reason Kim had come home was to try to patch things up with the old gang and to meet Tanya, and also possibly help out with the Little Angel's Haven problem.**

 **Kim had spent some time volunteering at that shelter before she left Angel Grove, and now the shelter was in danger. Part of the reason she came back was to lend moral support to the three man Ranger team who was competing for the prize money.**

 **She in particular remembered** **young Justin Stewart, an 11 year old boy who had lost his mom, barely saw his dad, and if the shelter was gone, Justin would have nowhere to go. His mind was exceptionally sharp, but he had been in bad shape before Kim left for Pan-Globals, and he appeared to be even worse now. Whatever she could do for Justin, she was going to try.**

 **Kim felt sorry for the boy, as she could relate to his situation. It was in no small part due to her mom's stance on having a baby at her age and abortion (not to mention her mother absolutely abhorred Tommy) that she'd had to give up Jayden, so she understood in some way the situation Justin was in. The parents of the family were someone the child was supposed to trust without question. Instead, Justin had no one to turn to, just like she had.**

 **However, that was the furthest thing from her mind. Today, she and Jason were going scuba diving. She'd always enjoyed the water, as she and Tommy had spent many memorable days on the beach.**

 **Little did they know that when they hit the water, their lives would be turned upside down...and Kimberly's would take a turn for the absolute worst.**

 **Kimberly heard Jason call that he was ready, and so both headed for the beach.**

 **Two hours later...**

 **She wondered why, when she'd been through so much with the catcalls and insults and everything else, hadn't she done this earlier.**

 **She loved the water, but she'd hardly, if ever, done the scuba diving thing. But she found it relaxing...it was a way to calm the nerves. There was nothing but the underwater and whatever was it it, her, and Jason.**

 **Kim's curiosity rose as she saw a shark-shaped object rapidly approaching them. She'd never seen anything like it before or since.**

 **She pointed to Jason, and he gazed at it with the same amount of curiosity. They were so fixated on the vessel that they didn't see the danger until it was too late. Suddenly, they were both grabbed by their air tanks. Kimberly and Jason both tried to elbow themselves free, but the creatures who had grabbed them had a strong grip and weren't about to let go as they felt themselves being dragged towards the ship.**

 **End Flashback**

She then remembered when she was in the bilge of Divatox the Pirate Queen's ship. Dark, dank, water up to her knees and trapped like a rat. Only to find out she was some sort of sacrifice for some flame guy she didn't know about at the time...

Unfortunately she was going to become very familiar with this monster's power extremely soon...

 **Flashback**

 **March 14, 1997**

 **Divatox's Ship, The Bilge**

 **"Set a course for the Nemesis Triangle! Full speed!" Kim could hear Divatox order.**

 **What she was about to hear next made her shiver in fright.**

 **"Captain, there's something you should be aware of!" a deep voice boomed. Kimberly could only assume it was once of Divatox's captains speaking.**

 **"What is it, Rygog, make it snappy!" Kim could hear Divatox say.**

 **"I think we may have hit the jackpot with one of our two captives!" the one known as Rygog said excitedly. "I've been doing some scans on these two. Take a look!"**

 **"Let me see that!" Divatox said. Kim could only wonder what Divatox was looking at. It couldn't be good...and she couldn't be more right.**

 **"Oh my," Kim could hear Divatox breathe. "Rygog, good work. Both are two of Zordon's former Power Pukes, but one of our two captives is the Crane holder of the Great Power...I didn't even know that still existed!"**

 **"That wretched witch Dulcea doesn't know how to die...No matter. The Great Power is the ultimate and Maligore will love to feast on it," Divatox said. "Once Maligore's fire burns through this little girl's soul and gains access to The Great Power, evil shall reign forever!"**

 **Kim sighed deeply.**

 **"This is so lame," she told Jason. "We come back, I'm starting to settle into a life again, we can surprise all the gang and possibly help Justin and the shelter and the next thing you know we're snack food for someone with the munchies!"**

 **"Munchies?" Bulk said, grinning at Kim, but both Kim and Jason ignored him.**

 **"Yeah and did you hear about what she thinks he can do with your powers?" Jason said.**

 **"There's no way he can possibly touch the Great Power," Kim whispered. "No way."**

 **"The way that lady is talking I'd be careful. This doesn't feel right to me. I wouldn't underestimate this guy's power. You've got to be careful. Think of HIM," Jason emphasized that last word. Kim knew who he was referring to. "I don't know a whole lot about the Great Power you guys had except from what you and Zordon have told me but if this Maligore could take it, I'd be real careful."**

 **Kim only knew too well who Jason was referring to.**

 **' _Come on Tommy,'_** **she pleaded silently to no one in particular. _'One more time, for old time's sake.'_**

 **Little did she know that thanks to the wizard Lerigot and a message that Divatox would send to the current group of Rangers, Tommy was making plans for a rescue mission. There was still some hope left, if but a flicker...If he could save her one more time, perhaps they could at least patch things up...**

 **End Flashback**

Kim then remembered the next several hours after that, it had all been a blur to her. She'd fought to escape Divatox's ship with Jason's help (even though he'd ended up stuck on the ship still), only to find herself on a beach on Murianthias where the natives had captured her and Divatox had been able to get her back in her grasp once again. Just when she thought she'd been out of the woods...

She'd then been taken to Maligore's temple, where she and Jason had been tied up above a massive circular pit of fire. She remembered it well because these had been the last few moments of who she really had been; dear, sweet Kimberly was about to become the biggest monster the universe had seen in many a year...

The Rangers had tried, but...

 **Flashback**

 **Maligore's Temple**

 **Island of Murianthias**

 **Mar. 14, 1997**

 **"Maligore, great flame of destruction, it is I, Divatox, your one and only true soulmate. This moment has been long in coming, and now, I bring you two perfect specimens to seal our matrimonial pact!" Divatox exclaims as she is about to give the command to lower Kim and Jason into the lava pit below where they were tied up. "Awake and feed upon their purity. Come forth, and let evil twist their souls. Join forces with me!"**

 **Right as Kim's body...and heart were about to sink into the lava with Jason, a voice ripped through the air. A distinctly familiar voice.**

 **"Hey! Did we miss the party?"**

 **Kim breathed a sigh of relief. He really did care, after all...Perhaps there was hope yet...**

 **"Who invited you?" Divatox snarled, though she really didn't need to ask. Divatox grunted in frustration; no matter hell or high water, Tommy would still risk life and limb to save Kim. Divatox well knew the Falcon could ruin everything.**

 **"We did," Kim responded, though Tommy really didn't need an invitation. He could come rescue Kim whenever he damn well pleased. She quickly glanced over all the Rangers and felt something vastly different about the person in the Blue Turbo suit. It certainly wasn't Rocky under that suit...she would have felt the Ape spirit right away. She guessed the Yellow Ranger must be Tanya, Adam's girlfriend and America's latest singing sweetheart.**

 **"Rangers, this is Divatox. Divatox, this is your worst nightmare," Kim quipped.**

 **"Figures that a holder of the Great Power would say that. You don't know when to quit do you, but I will make you quit," Divatox said, and Kim's body tensed up. "Lower them into the volcano!"**

 **A fierce battle ensued, but despite Tommy and his Rangers' best efforts, Rygog was able to lower both Kim and Jason into the pit. As Kim was lowered into the pit, her last thought as sweet, cuddly Kim for many years was,**

 **'Thank you Tommy for trying to rescue me. Please keep safe, for me. I love you and always will. Take care of Jayden if he ever comes back.'**

 **"It's too late Rangers," Divatox cackled. "Even now they are becoming spawns of evil!"**

 **End Flashback**

The small part of the old Kimberly that remained then remembered the few moments she was in the pit. It was the most painful thing she'd ever gone through.

She'd managed to keep the fact that she had a child and had adopted that child under wraps...somehow. But it took all her willpower to just do that.

She'd had nothing left to fight the fires of evil that penetrated her body. Maligore's fire had taken advantage of everything she'd gone through and had gone about twisting it into a raging inferno of hatred.

Her parents fighting all the time as a youth, the insults and catcalls she'd endured in Florida. The cutthroat world of women's gymnastics, Tommy not answering her phone calls, the Letter, getting together with Alex and then him being shot in a movie theater, it all came together. She was now akin to a ship without a rudder, and was thus easy prey for Maligore's evil.

When she reappeared from the pit, it was still Kimberly but she was no longer in control of her body...and wouldn't be for a long time.

She remembered when her body broke those restraints like it was nothing at all, and searched out the Rangers like a predator stalking its prey.

Her mind wanted to scream not to attack them, but she was so lost at this point in her life that it didn't matter. Her Maligore controlled body wanted the Rangers to pay for everything that had happened to her, and her body was only too happy to oblige when Divatox gave the attack command...

 **"Maligore's children,"** Divatox said, **"Destroy those who threaten the phase of unity!"**

She had to stand by and watch hopelessly as her controlled body first pushed Tommy, her dear, sweet Falcon out of the way. Her spirits lowered even further as her body easily disposed of Adam and Tanya, and the hate that Maligore had infused in her body went up several levels as Kat and Tommy tried to restrain her. That had been a bad idea in the state Kim was in...the real Kim didn't hate Kat, but Maligore had twisted her soul enough to where Kat was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And when she found herself uttering, **"Evil is as evil does,"** and grabbed Kat and pulled her down, that's when she figured out her soul was in more trouble than she could ever imagine. It was punctuated when Kim found herself saying, **"Oh and sweetie, Pink is out,"** as her body kicked Kat away.

Then there was Lerigot. Poor, sweet Lerigot who she felt so sorry for. Lerigot had done his best but...

 **Flashback**

 **March 14, 1997**

 **Maligore's Temple**

 **Murianthias**

 **All the Rangers had been disposed of...well, almost all of them. Tommy was in deep trouble too, as he was hanging above the pit by a thread with the Maligore-controlled Jason pummeling him.**

 **'Into the fire...into the fire...into the fire...do it,' Kim chanted when suddenly a beam from Lerigot (with Yara's help) enveloped Kimberly and a brief fight in her mind began. But just as quickly, it died.**

 **Kimberly's body was too consumed with the evil she had been infused with thanks to recent events, and Lerigot's magic wasn't quite as strong as it would have been thanks to him being weaker than normal.**

 **"Nice try, you little shrimp," she vividly had told Lerigot, "but I like this. This is fun!"**

 **She brushed off the good like it was nothing at all, in fact, it only seemed to make her eyes glow a deeper shade.**

 **Her corrupted face formed a scowl when she saw Lerigot try his act on Jason, and it actually worked as Jason was freed from the mind control, and the two helped each other out of trouble.**

 **As her body weighed its options, the good part of Kimberly that was dwindling but still there was preparing herself to fight for her freedom, when suddenly someone intervened.**

 **'Kim stop. Stop! Don't fight him!' a voice rang in the small part of Kimberly that wasn't possessed. She felt as though she was trapped inside a cage and wanted to break free of the evil, until she heard who was speaking to her telepathically.**

 **'Dulcea, what's going on?' the non-corrupted part of Kim had said. 'I want to be free! To go home with Tommy!'**

 **'It is no use, my Crane. You must surrender. We cannot take any chances,' Dulcea insisted.**

 **'But...' Kim had started.**

 **'No buts, my Crane,' Dulcea told her sternly. 'It is too late now. Maligore's hold is too strong and you are like a ship without a rudder. If Tommy was still with you you might be able to be freed, but alas. You are in no shape to take his evil on right now. He holds all the cards.'**

 **'So what if he wins? If I lose I go down fighting. That's what Rangers do,' Kim shot back.**

 **Dulcea smiled. Even now, the Crane didn't want to go without a whimper.**

 **'If only I could say there wasn't much risk involved. If you go against him right now and lose not only does your soul die but Maligore claims a part of the Great Power. Not only that if he wins he will be privy to information about HIM.'**

 **That was enough to shut Kimberly up.**

 **'I feel the same way you do but there is no other way. Surrender is the only option at this point. Some day you may regain your soul back but for now this must happen. It is a fixed event. This is no one's fault but fate itself.'**

 **'If you say so,' Kim sighed as Dulcea gave her a sad smile.**

 **'Let Maligore have his victory for now. Know that your service has always been greatly appreciated, my Crane. May the Power protect you.'**

 **That lull had given Kimberly's body time to think also and as she weighed her options, she decided she wasn't ready to take on the Rangers all at once although the blue boy would be fun to play with. She figured it was best to regroup and plan for a return some day against Zordon's legacy and hope she would crush it to pieces then.**

 **Eventually, the Rangers would battle Maligore and win, and then the place erupted causing everyone to evacuate. To Lady Flammia, as she was known, that wouldn't matter. One day, she would return, and when she did, hell would come with her. Let the Rangers enjoy their victory today, because at one point their luck was going to run out.**

 **Elsewhere, to almost no one's notice back in California, a small child cried uncontrollably and began to glow a deep shade of crimson as he continued to cry hysterically, which sent the older sister and parents to try to calm him down.**

 **End Flashback**

As Kimberly recalled that horrible day when her soul had been irrevocably corrupted, she could barely stand to look at herself now.

She was clothed in a black body suit, ideal for fighting, with a floor-length flaming cape that gave her the capability of flight. Her helmet was made of a flaming red and yellow firebird, which covered all but a little of her hair which, once brown, had turned a deep shade of jet black. That wasn't an outfit which she would have picked before her body told her otherwise.

Her life had only gotten worse from the day of her corruption, as the evil and hate for Zordon and his team grew stronger, thanks to connections that Divatox had...

Not long after the fight with Maligore, which the Rangers had won, Divatox had sensed the evil inside of her. Thus, she arranged a meeting between the new Kimberly and an old rival of hers, which would turn out to be the beginning of the army that was currently ravaging the universe...

A/N 4: Coming up in the next chapter, Kimberly and Divatox meet again, and Divatox arranges a meeting between the new Kimberly and her old rival Scorpina. In that chapter, Scorpina (and Dark Specter too) takes the new Kim under her wing and the first seeds of Kimberly's army are born...

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	5. 4: It's About Who You Know

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here) which is going to become more evident later. It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. The beginning of Lady Flammia starts here. A quick note to an anonymous review:

geno: Funny you should mention Divatox and her expressing remorse for her actions. Divatox will appear through the countdown in this story then reappear near the end of the second story and will play a major factor. And yes, the damage Lady Flammia has caused...you'll see it in this story.

A/N 3: Sorry folks, I've been wanting to get this updated for quite some time. This was originally intended to be a Thursday night update but it's been raining and storming cats and dogs here in Houston. Only now are we finally getting a break and only now am I able to fire up the laptop to finish this update. Oh and I hope everyone of my fans Stateside has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend...please remember what this weekend is really about.

A/N 4: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 4 – It's About Who You Know

 **May 2010**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

 **Eltar**

As a disclaimer, the real Kimberly Hart, the Kimberly Hart that still believed in the side of goodness and the Kimberly Hart that would rather be with her beloved Tommy at this point, didn't at all hate the Rangers of Earth. Nor did she hate Katherine, who to her knowledge had finally found love with someone she had known for years.

Unfortunately for the small part of Kimberly Hart that still remained, Divatox hadn't been kidding when she said that the Great Flame of Destruction would burn through Kimberly's soul, exploit every one of her jealousies and past family problems, and turn that part of her that was an immature little girl who had lost her direction into a destructive, demonic monster.

And it had happened almost overnight.

She still remembered the day that the first seeds of the evil army that her twisted, demonically possessed body had been planted. When she'd first met an old enemy (thanks to Divatox), the small part of her that was still thought the half-scorpion female warrior who had taken her possessed body under her wing repulsive.

She didn't necessarily think that way anymore, as even her good side had found some common ground with her former arch-rival, but it had still been a terrible thing for the entire universe because of the connections that would follow.

As the story was told, the connection that was built went like this...

 **Flashback**

 **Mar. 16, 1997**

 **Divatox's Subcraft, just inside Earth's atmosphere**

 **"Captain, There's something you should see!" Rygog said as he and Porto came rushing in just as Divatox was finishing her eyeliner.**

 **"What is it, you two goofs? Can't you see that I'm busy?" Divatox screamed at her two henchmen.**

 **"This cannot wait, Captain!" Rygog said. "That human that was never turned back by that idiot Lerigot has been picked up by our scanners!"**

 **"Rygog is correct, Divatox," Porto, the "big marshmallow" as Divatox called him, said.**

 **Divatox's scowl turned into a smile. She'd wondered what happened to that girl...Kimberly what's her name.**

 **"Captain, the one thing I notice is that she lacks direction, a purpose. She's at a beach near what the humans call Stone Canyon in California, but she doesn't know anything about being evil and now she realizes that!" Rygog said. "She needs a connection, a direction if you will to tap into her potential."**

 **Divatox scratched her chin for a few moments and said, "Let me see that."**

 **She grabbed her periscope and stared at the pint-sized, petite human girl who had, apparently, been one of Zordon's team. Now, she'd do anything to destroy them Divatox sensed, but she had to admit, Rygog had a point.**

 **"For the first time in a while I agree with you, Rygog," Divatox said. "Unfortunately, I don't know how much I can help her. But I do know of someone who can."**

 **"It's time to make a call to an old friend..." Divatox said cryptically as she reached for the phone.**

 **Stone Canyon Beach**

 **Same Time**

 **"This is STUPID!" the former first Pink Ranger of Earth groused to herself.**

 **She had gained all this power, forgoing the feelings for everyone that she once thought cared for her, but in the sense it had come at a price...a heavy price.**

 **To start with, she knew nothing about being a bad girl. Sure, she'd thrown her share of fits over the years, especially at her mother who had always tried to get Kimberly under her thumb.**

 **That said, she knew nothing of how to destroy people. She didn't have the centuries of experience that her former foes like Rita, Zedd, Goldar, Rito, Scorpina, et al. had and she didn't have the cunning, cruel mind of Master Vile.**

 **She also didn't have any connections who could help her, didn't have a mentor who could help her grow and walk down this path of darkness. Little did she know...**

 **"You know, you never cease to surprise me," a voice said. A very familiar voice. "When we first met in 1993, I didn't think pure, sweet Kimberly Hart would shed her purity and become this."**

 **"Who's there?" an irritated Kimberly snapped. "State your business!"**

 **"Oh, Pinkie, you should know who I am," the voice said, distinctly female. "We were huge rivals for about a year."**

 **A sly grin formed on evil Kimberly's face as she turned around and came face to face with an old rival.**

 **"Well, if it isn't dear old Scorpina again," the evil, twisted soul of Kimberly said. "Been a while, how you hanging?"**

 **"I'm doing as well as I can be; I guess I should be asking you the same thing," Scorpina said. "Never thought I'd see the day when the Pink Ranger suddenly wants to destroy her ex and everyone that stands with him and Zordon."**

 **"First of all, like I told my successor, Pink is out. Don't ever use the name of that color around me again," the evil soul of Kimberly said as her eyes flashed red. A slight smile formed on Scorpina's face as she saw this. "The old Kimberly is gone and Zordon's band of misfits and everyone who made me feel like trash have no one to blame but themselves."**

 **For the first time since they'd met, Scorpina looked at Kimberly and felt a wave of sympathy for the young Earthling. As if she'd been down the same path Kimberly was heading.**

 **"Tell me everything...talk to me," Scorpina said. "There's no one here for miles."**

 **And for the next hour or so, the two former rivals talked it out; what was going on with their lives and Kimberly specifically touched on her family life and her obnoxious mother who'd wanted to whisk her away to Paris during the heart of the war with Rita and Zedd. Then she talked about her time in Florida, the catcalls, the refusal of the Rangers and Tommy to answer phone calls, meeting up with Alex, almost realizing her dream only to have it shatter into a million pieces when her second boyfriend was shot and killed.**

 **"I'm an idiot and a weakling..." the evil, twisted version of Kimberly sobbed as her former rival held her close. "Female villains don't cry but I've been through so much crap..."**

 **"That's a load of bull and you know it; we have feelings too. We're trained not to show them but we do," Scorpina said fiercely. "A lot of times we become this way because the people who are supposed to love us try to tear us down. I'm originally from Edenoi..."**

 **"The home of the Masked Rider and Alpha?" Kimberly said.**

 **"Yes, the very same. Part of the reason that I never came back and attacked after you acquired the Ninja powers is you went to help my home planet; I never forgot that and gained a measure of respect for all of you," Scorpina said. "Nevertheless, my family thought I was a disgrace and they sold me down the river to Dark Specter, who turned me into this...thing..."**

 **As they hugged it out and cried, in a sense, the two former rivals felt free. In a way, the small part of Kimberly that remained pure and fiercely held on to her Crane powers (and her secret), cried with them and felt a sense of freedom as well.**

 **"What a shame..." Scorpina said softly. "You were going to win championships, gold medals. I knew you were. Rita knew it, Zedd knew it, we all did. I'm evil for sure but I have my limits. What happened to you is nothing short of a travesty."**

 **And the pure part of Kimberly that still lurked never agreed more with the scorpion female than at that moment.**

 **Maybe the pure part of Kimberly still hated Scorpina with a passion, but at least she could understand why she was this monster.**

 **"You want to destroy them, make them suffer just like we all do," Scorpina said as if to get the talk down to a more businesslike approach. The informal part was over.**

 **"Yes and I have no idea how to do it," the dark, twisted part of Kimberly said. "This is STUPID, all this power and I don't know what to do."**

 **"I see your potential, but you need direction. Let me give you a first piece of advice; one of the few things evil and good agree on is that in any business networks are important. It's not so much what you know, though that's important. It's who you know," Scorpina said. "You need guidance and a mentor, which is why Divatox sent me here."**

 **"Ah Divatox," the evil, twisted Kimberly said. "That drag queen is smarter than I gave her credit for."**

 **"If you really want to know what being evil is all about, I can train you. Better yet, Dark Specter and his court can train you," Scorpina said. "Dark Specter, the Grand Monarch of all evil."**

 **"Would he take me in? I'm just a rookie you know," the dark, twisted part of Kimberly said as she frowned.**

 **"A rookie that has great potential, I see it already. You could be the greatest of the evil some day. Most of us in the United Alliance of Evil agree," Scorpina said. "You are also Maligore's last child, and Dark Specter is Maligore's brother. That makes him technically your uncle. There is no one who knows more about being bad than your uncle Dark Specter."**

 **"And I'll be with you every step of the way as well," the scorpion female said. "If you really think about it, we have a lot in common."**

 **"We have a deal," the dark, twisted version of Kimberly said. "Don't call me Kimberly anymore either. That's who I USED to be. I want to go by a new name."**

 **"You should probably name yourself something to do with fire," Scorpina said. "Flames or something like that."**

 **"That's it! Flames! The Latin word for fire is Flammia," Kimberly said. "Lady Flammia. That's my new name."**

 **End Flashback**

For a while after that, things weren't so bad after she came aboard the Dark Fortress, home to the Alliance. Her evil half had been welcomed with open arms by her uncle, since her evil half was Maligore's last child.

Well, that was, except for the fact that her evil half was excelling in networking with various forms of evil throughout the universe. You see, even though he was happy that he had his niece aboard to train in the ways of evil, he had a pretty good inclination that his ending was coming at some point.

Therefore, from day one he had taught Flammia how to not just use her raw destructive powers, but to network and be able to earn alliances with some of the most foul creatures in the universe from all walks of evil; the thugs from M-51, unknown generals of the Machine Empire, Mama D and many others.

When Flammia wasn't networking, she helped with administrative and accounting matters on the ship because after all, somebody needed to take care of the Alliance's money.

His thought was, if he couldn't survive, or if the Alliance couldn't survive then maybe one day Lady Flammia could be evil's greatest hope to finally conquering Earth.

On her first trip to the Onyx Tavern, where almost no rookie villain survived, she'd taken on the baddest of the bad and had beaten a feared princess and her husband for a powerful weapon.

That was one of the few moments in the last decade or so that the good part of Kimberly reveled in; Archerina thought she was the best female archer in all the galaxy and Kimberly's bad (and by extension her good) half had beaten her at her own game, in a cutthroat environs proving her and Gasket to be nothing but hot air. She'd also beat out the feared space ninja, Lothor, which had really put her in good standing.

 **Flashback**

 **Onyx Tavern**

 **January 1998**

 **With the rise of Dark Specter and his capture of Zordon, the planet Onyx and in particular the Onyx Tavern was as hot a spot as ever...even more hot than usual.**

 **This was the place where the scummiest of the scum went to make deals. To either hire bounty hunters at a price, acquire weapons, or acquire money by playing card games and the like.**

 **The Rangers of Earth had forgot about Mondo's son and his wife, and had thought Gasket was out of their hair, but they had just retreated. They were on their own though because they weren't inclined to be in any alliance with King Mondo, and since King Mondo was allied with Dark Specter now, well...**

 **On this particular day, Gasket and Archerina had decided to make a pit stop here. They were trying to conquer a far away planet, and both were looking for anything they could get their hands on.**

 **That's when Archerina spied something that was being bid on outside the tavern which caught her fancy.**

 **"Wow, look at that archer's bow, dear," Archerina said, giggling as she did so. "I've needed a weapons upgrade for a while."**

 **"It looks expensive, but we've got plenty of Zenematars to spare, darling," Gasket said.**

 **"Going once for thirty...going twice for thirty..." the dealer said. He was an ugly specimen, one of those "thugs" from the M-51 galaxy who specialized in evil dealings. He looked like a cross between an ugly salamander and a snake.**

 **"Fifty Zenematars your evilness," Gasket said.**

 **"The plot thickens I see," the dealer said.**

 **"No way am I giving up. 60!" the other bidder said. "My niece Marah could use that!"**

 **"Seventy five," Archerina countered. "We can keep going all day if you want, Lothor."**

 **"All day?" a new voice cut in. "You mean, ALL day?"**

 **That said, a small, petite figure flipped in front of the dealer, Lothor, and Gasket and Archerina. Everyone looked around in wonder...they'd never seen someone like this on Onyx. Was she from Earth?**

 **"We could let money decide this because thanks to Uncle Dark Specter, I've got more than enough Zenematars to match whatever bid you come up with," Lady Flammia said. "Or we could actually see who earns it because believe me, I can shoot a bow and arrow better than you," she said, pointing at Lothor...**

 **"Or you," she said pointing at Archerina.**

 **"Why you little impudent..." Lothor started, until he felt his mask searing with heat and threatening to melt...Flammia had grabbed his mask and channeled the heat she possessed, something Scorpina and Dark Specter had practiced with her day after day.**

 **Lothor gasped in surprise. It couldn't be, but then again, there was no question in his mind...**

 **She possessed the Flame of Destruction. There weren't many things that scared Lothor but the fire of the Flame was one of them. Lothor hated fire...it was a wonder why amongst all the Ninja academies on Earth there had never been a school of fire. If there had been, Lothor's evil side may have died a long time ago.**

 **"I'm...I'm backing out of the bidding. These two can feel free to go at it. Next time, sir," Lothor said as Flammia immediately released him and he scurried away.**

 **"Down to just you and me now," Archerina goaded the young rookie. "You don't have the guts to defeat me at my game."**

 **"Oh but I think I can and I will," Flammia said. "Just hand me a bow and arrow, dealer, and I'll show this cupid how it's really done."**

 **By now, a lot of villains had come out of the establishment to see the show, particularly the deceased villains the Morphin teams had faced because they were intimately familiar with Archerina's opponent albeit in her good form.**

 **Archerina was a very good bow and arrow specialist as her name implied but as the match went on and Flammia matched her shot after shot Archerina was getting frustrated.**

 **Finally, the frustration boiled over. Thinking about how perfect her shot had to be for her to keep pace, Archerina missed the mark by a mile, causing her arrow to hit one of the patrons, causing the game to immediately end.**

 **"I believe we have a winner!" the dealer said as most of the patrons cheered mainly out of respect for who Kimberly had been (though they'd been defeated long ago by her and her Ranger teammates) and the love for who she was now. Most were also just as glad Archerina had lost as she'd acted like she owned the place.**

 **She was then swarmed with love and affection...something she hadn't expected, and something that she hadn't felt since her days with Alex. She was able to keep the crowds back enough to give the dealer his 75 Zenematars and then take her prize.**

 **"When we went head to head in your Ranger days, I never imagined you'd become this. I couldn't be more happy that this weapon is in good hands because if I know you, you'll take care of it," Bloom of Doom said. Bloom of Doom had been in the bar playing cards, but when she'd heard the commotion she'd been one of the patrons to come out.**

 **"That weapon is one of the most prized weapons in the galaxy because it's a custom weapon...it can be changed to fit the strengths of its owner. Good luck attaining your revenge against those you have been wronged by."**

 **"They'll get theirs some day," Flammia vowed as she strapped the weapon to her back and Scorpina stepped forward from the swarm of patrons to embrace her friend...some would say, now, her best friend.**

 **"Not today, not tomorrow, but some day, Scorpina," Flammia vowed.**

 **End Flashback**

From there on, she'd earned a lot of friends. Most were happy that someone had scared Lothor away (something that was rarely done) and that the hot aired Machine Princess had been shown up in front of a large crowd. As Dark Specter's apprentice, she'd also been invited by most of the Alliance members to tag along on their quests to rule the entire universe and get a feel for how they did business.

Ecliptor, Astronema's top warrior, had also taken a particular liking to Flammia and throughout her time on the Dark Fortress he had helped her improve even more significantly in the ways of hand to hand combat. He liked that she was evil, but she stayed within a specific code of honor unlike Darkonda, who would stoop to the lowest of lows.

Eventually, she rose up in the ranks far enough to where she filled in sometimes if one of her uncle's generals was off doing something important and he needed another body. As she became more successful in his army, she was regaining much of the confidence she had lost during those trying months in Florida.

Then came that day in 1998. The day that the United Alliance of Evil tried to conquer the universe.

A day that, if she had stayed on the Dark Fortress, she would have eventually been free from Maligore's hold. Maybe she'd be home then, possibly watching Jayden grown into a man in a nearby town.

Unfortunately for Kimberly Ann Hart in 1998, things didn't exactly go how she wanted them to.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	6. 5: Somewhat Failed Sacrifice

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here) which is going to become more evident later. It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. This is the Countdown to Destruction part of the story which includes thoughts from Zordon himself at the end.

As a side note, there will be a special one-shot coming up very soon within this series which takes place around the Once a Ranger episode from Operation Overdrive.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 5 – Somewhat Failed Sacrifice

 **February 2011**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

 **Eltar**

Fast forward to nearly a year after Queen Flammia's conquest of Eltar, and the more Kimberly Hart's body sat in that chair, still in a glow over her conquests of several planets, the more she regretted one singular day in her life.

The evil side of her had conquered and wreaked havoc on several planets, including Edenoi, Inquiris, Mirinoi, Andresia and now KO-35. Not long after Scorpina had left for her missive to conquer KO-35, she and the army she'd been dispatched with had easily done so. Andros and Ashley had moved to Earth as had Zhane and Karone, so KO-35 didn't have near the protection it used to.

In the meantime, her army had found every bit of monetary value Eltar had, and had further used some it to enhance her army with even more destructive creatures. Many creatures not involved with the Alliance in the past had problems with Zordon, and the lure of having a front row seat to the destruction of Zordon's entire legacy (and Kimberly knew that battle was coming) was too much to pass up.

However, none of that would have ever happened had she simply stayed where she was at.

In the words of Whitney Houston, that 'cold November day' in 1998. The day where Dark Specter's forces had set out to conquer the universe in one grand, final battle.

It was the day where Kimberly Hart should have finally been set free from her penance. From all the wrong she had already caused, and she could begin to rebuild her life and hope for a brighter future.

Unfortunately for Kimberly, things don't always turn out the way you want it to. Interestingly, part of it had to do with the same thing she had been holding within her heart and away from Maligore's knowledge for many years.

A child.

Only this time, this wasn't her child Jayden, who as of right now would be at about the age she was when she became a Power Ranger in 1993.

This was the child of her mentor as an evil villain.

It was a cold November day indeed.

 **Flashback**

 **November 1998**

 **The Dark Fortress**

 **"The time has come to complete my master plan, Astronema," Dark Specter rasped. "Summon all of my evil forces. They must all unite to finally take over the universe."**

 **"Let the battle begin!" Astronema said.**

 **Scorpina was standing right there when Dark Specter made the announcement and gulped in fear as she clutched her child, who would have been the age equivalent of three years old on Earth. Most notably, she feared for the very safety of her child because she knew what was about to happen if Dark Specter went through with this. Her child, her beautiful child, would never get the chance to live.**

 **Not only that, she would lose her protege probably for good.**

 **Part of the reason Scorpina had been out of commission once Zedd took over the Moon Palace was because she was pregnant with her and Goldar's child, Nepa, who was born not long after Scorpina left the Moon Palace. She and Goldar hadn't left each other; Goldar had simply advised her to get out of harm's way which she did, as she went to a far away galaxy so she could take care of her child.**

 **She had been hoping to come back to Earth with the Rangers conquered, but the color coded pests had beat Zedd and Rita at every turn.**

 **No one considered Scorpina important but she had a right to feel important because she knew something that Dark Specter didn't.**

 **As Scorpina hustled down the hallway not long after and entered her and Flammia's quarters, presumably moments before they would get their assignment for the all out assault, she could see Flammia frown and could see that she had the young girl's attention.**

 **"You seem frazzled," Flammia told her mentor and gave her a knowing look. "You know something. You are obligated to tell me."**

 **"It's...it's Dark Specter's plan," Scorpina began to rant, and she was fast losing her cool for fear of losing her child and protege. "If he goes through with this plan...Zordon...he'll order himself to be sacrificed. All the evil in the galaxy...gone...My child...Gone...And you would have to go back to your life before I found you..."**

 **Flammia visibly blanched. And, inside, though she didn't show it, so did Kimberly, at least the Kimberly that remained.**

 **There was no doubt the Crane that was trapped inside wanted to be free and was far enough removed from the events in Florida where she could fight Maligore's magic, with Zordon's help of course. Wanted to be back in California watching her own child grow into a man.**

 **But it wasn't that easy.**

 **For once, Flammia and the Kimberly Hart that was left shared the same opinion. The premature death of such a beautiful child like Scorpina possessed would have been a cold-hearted death. In her heart and soul, Kimberly knew how it felt to lose her own child to adoption and then see all her dreams come crashing down.**

 **It was a fate she wished on no one.**

 **So it was a bit of a surprise to Scorpina when Flammia held her and her young daughter tight...as tightly as could be.**

 **"Then we're going to bail on Darky's plan. We tell no one but we're leaving. Do you know of any place we can go?" Flammia said.**

 **"I have a ship and I know exactly where we need to go," Scorpina said. "Gather your things, quickly."**

 **24 Earth hours later, unknown galaxy**

 **The events that had gone down since Flammia, Scorpina and Nepa's departure, including the destruction of Dark Specter by Darkonda, the invasion of various planets by the entire Alliance, and the climax of events on the Dark Fortress had taken some time which allowed plenty of time for the three villains to escape.**

 **Plenty of time to get to a place where they could avoid what they knew was about to happen. Flammia (and by extension, Kimberly) and Nepa watched with riveted interest, Scorpina with some interest too because she knew what was about to happen. As they watched, Flammia clutched Scorpina's child tightly to her while Andros, who was on the Dark Fortress, battled Ecliptor with Zordon in the background.**

 **Then they heard Zordon's voice.**

 _ **"Andros, listen to me. It is your duty as a Power Ranger to save the universe."**_

 **Inside of Kimberly's corrupted body, what remained of Kimberly pleaded for Andros to do it as well. She knew all too well what would happen if Zordon didn't sacrifice himself. Evil would rule and Kimberly's child Jayden would almost certainly never get the chance to live.**

 **When Andros smashed Zordon's energy tube, a pure light of golden energy emanated from what had been his tube and eradicated all the evil that it could. From Master Vile to Goldar and Rito to Zedd and Rita to the Machine Empire and Divatox, everyone of those villains was either purified or destroyed altogether.**

 **Meanwhile, Flammia breathed a sigh of relief...and so did Kimberly. Flammia breathed a sigh of relief that she was not destroyed and Kimberly was still trapped. She hugged Scorpina because Scorpina had been right...if they hadn't escaped right there to this otherwise barren, desolate galaxy, she was almost certainly a goner and Scorpina's child would have been as well.**

 **But Kimberly silently breathed a sigh of relief as well...because Jayden was still alive. No evil could find out about him. Not now and not until he was ready to face evil of this magnitude. She also prayed to the powers that be that they would understand the reasons for her actions.**

 **Fortunately, there was, at that very moment, someone who did.**

 _ **Zordon's Point of View**_

 _ **Dark Fortress**_

 _ **As Andros does what I ask, shatter my energy tube, which I knew was the only way that the universe could be saved, I knew that I did all that I could do for the universe, and I had few if any regrets as my life ends today.**_

 _ **But there is one piece of unfinished business that I knew was still on the table, a regret which my soul will carry with me for all of my days.**_

 _ **My Pink Ranger. My dear, sweet Pink Ranger.**_

 _ **I remember when I was captured by Dark Specter, Kimberly was already under Dark Specter's services. She didn't go on many conquest attempts, but she was on the ship and she was well respected and liked...and feared by all who had crossed her just like in her Ranger days.**_

 _ **I could also see she had gained her confidence back, the confidence she hadn't had since she left my Rangers to chase her dreams. I continue to and always will curse the wretched souls in Florida who tormented her just for the short term glory of being called the best in the world. It is in large part due to those wretched souls that she's in the state she's in right now.**_

 _ **I was proud of her for regaining her confidence and I had to admit, the lunatics on the Fortress had done a good job helping her back into a better state, even if she was batting for the wrong team now.**_

 _ **My thoughts shift next to her child, Jayden, who I witnessed the birth of in my old Command Center three years ago.**_

 _ **In that very moment, I knew the reason Kimberly had fled the Dark Fortress with Scorpina. It hurts my heart, but I know the reason she did it and the reason, even for a child of evil, was pure and true.**_

 _ **Scorpina's three year old child would have died when I sacrificed myself and I'm sure that Kimberly, who was a protege of Scorpina of sorts had spent a lot of time around her child. It had reminded Kimberly too much of Jayden and in Kimberly's mind, any child, even if flawed, deserves the chance to live.**_

 _ **And in that same vein, I curse Kimberly's mother, Caroline Hart, for all the rest of my days. She was a large reason Kimberly gave Jayden up to begin with as I am 100 percent certain she would have forced my Pink Ranger to abort this child which would have changed the course of history forever. That, and it's just wrong.**_

 _ **As I take my last breath, that is the one regret I'll take with me forever. That Kimberly never had the chance to be freed, and I curse the fates and prophecies eternally that she's in the state she's in. By all accounts, she should be free and embracing Tommy somewhere right now, and preparing to watch from afar as her son grows into a man.**_

 _ **Now, as I take my rest, I know her son is the last hope for this universe, and while I trust Mentor Ji to take care of Jayden, it pains me to know that his parents have suffered so much.**_

 _ **Though I'm disappointed I couldn't free Kimberly from evil's bondage, I know that if push comes to shove, that is the last person that deserves eternal damnation for her actions.**_

 **End Flashback**

As Kimberly's body sat on the throne and received another round of treasures from Nepa that Nepa had gone and gotten recently, what remained of Kimberly's tortured soul further reflected on that cold November day in 1998.

Should she have been free that day, and should the threat of Maligore have been eradicated completely? Without doubt.

But did she do the right thing that day, even if it created more torture and agony? Absolutely, she believed.

Nepa had grown into a destructive force just like her mother, sure, and it was to the point where she needed to be eradicated at some point, but as Jayden's mother, she had done what she could to fiercely protect Jayden from Maligore's harm for the majority of the time since he'd been born. If she hadn't protected someone else's child there was a chance she could be labeled as a hypocrite.

Scorpina was as evil as evil gets, but in that evil body was still the mother of a parent and she loved her child just as Kimberly loved the child she barely had a chance to meet before she gave him up.

A child that Kimberly could only hope was growing into a man that could one day take on the forces of evil and win.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	7. 6: Buliding an Army, Inquirian Incident

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. This chapter is the makings of her army, plus the way she conquered her first planet, Inquiris.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 6: Building an Army, Inquirian Incident

 **June 2011**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

As Kimberly Hart's body had given the missive for another conquest that would strike at the heart of the Rangers, this one being Triforia, she further reflected on the days post Zordon.

The days when her evil half had begun to build an army capable of wiping out everything in the galaxy, and what was left of the real Kimberly could do nothing about it.

She still believed in her heart that even though the decision had come at the cost of millions of lives and would probably be the end of many more that she had made the right decision to help raise Nepa, Scorpina's child.

That didn't make things any easier though. For one thing, she had been very religious growing up so though her family was fragmented she learned of the ideas of heaven and hell at an early age. She could only imagine that when this whole nightmare was done and her body took its last breath, she'd be living with the devil himself...assuming that place did exist.

To make matters worse, not long after Zordon's sacrifice, as Ranger teams protected places such as Terra Venture, and Mariner Bay, Silver Hills and other places in California, Kim's evil half, along with Scorpina and her growing daughter, were slowly building plans to take over the entire universe.

Kim remembered those days, as the army her evil half was building kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. The thing was also, Kim's evil half wasn't like Zedd and Rita. Zedd and Rita were great champions of evil, but didn't put a lot of thought into their plans. Perhaps it was because they were being watched by Dark Specter and his court, or perhaps it was them underestimating her, Tommy and the rest of her teammates. Whatever the case, Zedd and Rita's plans always seemed to fall short.

Unlike them, Kim's evil half answered to no one but her so she felt no pressure. She had also learned from the mistakes of evildoers past; she was beyond patient, smart, cold and calculating. It was what drew some of the most feared warriors and thugs of the universe to her side.

She also thought about her evil half's conquest of the planet Inquiris. That was one planet she did not feel sorry for. Dimitria to her was a terrible Ranger mentor and her sister Diana, as Dvatox, had pulled the trigger on the final event that had made her evil.

 **Flashback**

 **November 1999**

 **The Planet Titan**

 **"They don't make bad guys wike they used to, do they Auntie?" Scorpina's daughter Nepa said as she said on her "Auntie" Flammia's lap watching the Lost Galaxy Rangers defeat Scorpius and Trakeena's army for the last time and thus, save Terra Venture.**

 **"Those guys are a bunch of dumb dumbs, Auntie."**

 **"Yes, sweetie, they are," Flammia responded, laughing as she did so. Not only because it made Flammia laugh at how cute Scorpina's child was when she talked, but that she was right.**

 **It was ridiculous because even a four year old could see that the "new, post Zordon era" villains couldn't measure up to the old villains. Many of whom were dead or purified, by the way.**

 **In the year since the death of the United Alliance of Evil, Flammia and Scorpina made an executive decision that they would step away from fighting the good guys for a good while. Scorpina did have a child to raise and there was no doubt the Earth Rangers would look for any remaining evil that existed. It was best, in their opinions, if they stepped away for a while.**

 **Not to mention, they had no space ship like the old Dark Fortress, or Vile's Space Skull, etc and they had no allies to help them out. Any face to face meeting with the Earth Rangers or their allies and they would be pulverized.**

 **So, for the last year or so, Flammia and Scorpina were living on Goldar's home planet of Titan. Flammia had been named Nepa's godmother almost from the time she and Scorpina had met, and the two did a wonderful job of raising her.**

 **Deep inside, the part of Kimberly that still existed knew she could raise Jayden much the same way if she had the chance. Alas...**

 **That said, as the three of them watched the Lost Galaxy Power Rangers beat their adversaries time after time, they couldn't help but wonder.**

 **What could they do against an army of Rangers if they had their own army? How many planets could they conquer? How much destruction could they cause?**

 **Some day, they vowed to find out.**

 **"You know that any plan to get rid of Zordon's legacy may take many years, right?" Scorpina pointedly asked Flammia.**

 **"Patience is a virtue, Scorpina. That is something your former employers lacked," Flammia said. "Including Uncle Specter as much as I hate to say it. He and Daddy were both too impulsive for their** **own good."**

 **"A true warrior revels in every second of the journey, not just the destination," Flammia said. "The destination is important but as humans often say, it's the journey that matters. Take care of our house and the rest will take care of itself."**

 **"What do you propose?" Scorpina said. "We have more than enough Zenematars."**

 **"We need a ship, first of all," Flammia said. "It needs to be state of the art, up to date constantly and with the top machinery possible."**

 **"Barvaria will help us. You remember them, right?" Scorpina said. Flammia nodded; she'd been able to get in really good with the Barvarians during the run-up to when Zordon died. "Not only are they indebted to the side of evil being from the M-51 galaxy, they are some of the best builders in the entire universe. That part of the M-51 galaxy also contains some of the toughest thugs the universe has to offer."**

 **"That sounds good. We need some good thugs also, some good enforcers if you know what I mean. Enforcers to make sure no one touches your precious child."**

 **June, Earth year 2000**

 **The Planet Titan**

 **Scorpina had been right all along.**

 **It was about who you knew.**

 **As a reminder, Kimberly's evil half had excelled in networking with various forms of evil while she was under Dark Specter's tutelage.**

 **Because of the network she'd built, she was able to add the first piece of her army.**

 **It had taken a while for Scorpina and Flammia to get anyone to join their army because at this point, without a real space-craft, they couldn't go anywhere.**

 **That was being rectified with the building of the Dark Fortress Mark II, which was a nastier, more up-to-date version of the first Fortress...which had been evil enough. In the meantime, Flammia had done everything to try to get various members to Titan so she could build her army, but until they had a space-craft, it would be tough sledding.**

 **However, they had managed to get a big piece to come out to Titan as the start of their army. And boy, was he a big piece.**

 **He was considered by far the toughest warrior on Barvaria, and one of the toughest warriors in M-51 or any galaxy.**

 **He was simply known as Draco, and the mention of his name quite simply put fear into people galaxies far and wide. He hadn't been heard from in many thousands of years, but the last time people remembered him he'd helped destroy Triforia's capital city and tried to destroy Aquitar.**

 **When Mama D and Master Vile had helped Draco get in touch with Flammia, he was quite intrigued with the potential of the young, up and coming Earth warrior turned rising evil force. The two had become close and though it took some convincing, after all Barvarians rarely left their home territory, Flammia managed to win Draco's services from several other worthy challengers.**

 **As a matter of fact, he was willing to work for Flammia and Scorpina for less Zenematars than Flammia's counterparts. He liked the idea of being the start of an army being built from the ground up which could eventually conquer Zordon's legacy; Barvarians had tried to conquer Zordon's prized Rangers long ago, but came up short.**

 **"Welcome to our family, Draco," Flammia said; she smiled as she looked at the contract Draco had signed in green and gold blood. Contracts throughout most galaxies were not that much different from those on Earth, but the different, and more gory part for Earthlings was that when evildoers signed contracts, they gave their own blood to do it, no matter what galaxy they hailed from.**

 **"The thing I want you to remember is that I am not most evildoers. I do expect a great deal, but I do not answer to past or current evildoers. I run this show and am completely independent," Flammia said. "What this means is that while you have great responsibility you just have to be you. I will never ask you to turn down an opportunity to brutalize a Power Ranger or anyone else associated with Zordon."**

 **"Yes, if I just be me the rest will take care of itself," Draco boomed. "Part of the problem with past evildoers was that they didn't be themselves. They weren't on their own clock because Dark Specter was always watching. Master Vile from our galaxy came closest but he never could beat Ninjas. I shall help rectify that problem. No ninja can handle my strength or my foot soldiers, no one."**

 **"We tried to conquer Zordon long ago, and came close, but he always had the best of us. It's a shame he's dead because we're going to shed the blood of his legacy," Draco rasped as his menacing footsoldiers the Flamers cheered in the background.**

 **"Remember the two ground rules," Flammia reminded. "If Nepa dies, you will be the one held responsible and two, you can kill any of Zordon's Rangers that you wish but one. My disgusting ex Tommy...he's mine. I myself will shed his blood."**

 **Ah, Tommy Oliver, Rita's prized Green Ranger," Draco said. "When we meet, I will show him what a real Dragon Warrior can do. But I will honor your request."**

 **June 2002**

 **Onyx Tavern**

 **Over the next few years, Flammia and her growing ranks had mainly stayed on Titan, which allowed them to keep a low profile. Part of the reason they stayed on Titan was because it had become home to Flammia as she always felt welcome there, and part of it was due to the finish of the construction of the Dark Fortress Mark II.**

 **That said, Flammia kept managing to add to her ranks. It was a surprise to some in the galaxy when Flammia offered Squalus, a shark bounty hunter from Aquitar who hated Rangers (particularly the Rangers of Aquitar and the close friend of Flammia's alter ego from Earth), a spot in her army and much to the surprise of many, he accepted. No doubt the allure of being able to conquer Zordon and his legacy had swayed him away, and much like Draco and his Flamers from Barvaria, he had taken less money to be a part of what he felt could be something special.**

 **Aquitar celebrated the departure of Squalus, who was the second biggest adversary of the Alien Rangers next to Hydro Hog, but they suspected they hadn't seen the last of him.**

 **A big turning point in her army though, and a move that turned some heads, came the same year the Rangers had gone into space to keep Serpentera from being unleashed. Flammia didn't know whether to be glad or mad that the Rangers had conquered Venjix...and of course that damned Tommy Oliver had led the charge although the Red "rookie" Cole Evans had finished the job.**

 **Despite that, 2002 was considered a major success for Flammia because of one major move.**

 **She had gone head to head with Lothor for another precious acquisition and again proved her superiority.**

 **Four years after being embarrassed by Flammia, Lothor was once again back at the Tavern looking for additions to his army. He knew he was going to be going against Ninjas soon and felt he could use backup. He was here to hire Vipera, he hoped, and he believed she could be the missing piece to his world domination.**

 **Vipera (no relation to Vypra from Lightspeed Rescue) would have been a coup for any race of evil to hire; she belonged to a race of evil called the Temptatonians, who promised a life of prosperity but in reality often brought sorrow and despair to those they met. They often didn't get hired because they didn't work cheap; their reputations preceded them so they were normally very expensive hires. Vipera and her dangerous foot soldiers that Rattlers were no exceptions.**

 **Flammia frowned as she watched the conversation between the two; she knew Vipera wasn't as dumb as Lothor was making her sound. He was somehow trying to convince her that she needed him more than he needed her** **which wasn't true in her eyes.**

 **"I need you more than you need me, is that right?" Vipera said.**

 **Lothor nodded and Vipera snorted.**

 **"Please, you get embarrassed constantly. You are a joke amongst all the galaxy and will continue to be such," Vipera said. "As I recall you've been embarrassed here before."**

 **"Haha, who could have embarrassed me here?" Lothor goaded. Flammia laughed; this was just too good. He just didn't get it. It was then she decided to make her appearance, and Lothor's eyes widened.**

 **"YOU!" Lothor said.**

 **"Yes, me. Hello, Lothor," Flammia said. "I see you haven't changed your ways since we last met each other. I guess it's true what they say...losers lose."**

 **"I am no loser, you novice!" Lothor hissed as he marched towards Flammia. Bad mistake.**

 **The second he came within ten feet of Flammia she channeled her heat and Lothor had to step back five steps to keep from being singed.**

 **"That's what I thought," Flammia said as she turned to her latest possible recruit. "Hello, Vipera."**

 **"Well, if it isn't Lady Flammia. It is a pleasure to meet you," Vipera said; Flammia was surprised at the attitude.**

 **"I see you have heard of me," Flammia said. "Sorry about Lothor, I guess he doesn't like treating ladies with the proper respect."**

 **"If he did any research he knows that I don't work cheap," Vipera said as she shook her head in dismay. "He just has loser written all over him. He thinks I need him when it's the other way around."**

 **"Unlike Lothor, I'm willing to overpay for you if you join my army. I have a state of the art space ship, and I have a greater goal than what you'd have if you serve that loser. He thinks he'll have accomplished everything he can if he destroys Kanoi and Omino. He is playing chess and I'm playing checkers."**

 **"What can you offer me that he can't?" Vipera said. By now, the patrons had come out to watch what was going on. They sensed how pivotal this moment was.**

 **"The destruction of Zordon's legacy, every last one of them. I might even let you have a plaything if and when we win. And we will win," Flammia said.**

 **After a few moments, Vipera smiled.**

 **"The chance to destroy Zordon's legacy is too good to pass up. He killed my mother many thousands of years ago but we never had an opportunity for revenge. Now, with revenge at my fingertips, it's time we take it. Rattlers, come here. We're going with her."**

 **The patrons were shocked as Vipera, Flammia and the Rattlers left...and doubly so was Lothor.**

 **Inquiris Capital City**

 **Earth year 2006**

 **'Perfect,' Flammia thought as the Dark Fortress Mark II rapidly approached a planet that had held great significance the two sets of Turbo Rangers.**

 **She could see the sun was barely beginning to rise over the planet, and most of the residents would be asleep. Unlike Earth, where there were multiple big cities spread out over many continents, on Inquiris, the major cities were all fairly close together and there were about four or five of them. Other than that it was all farmland or desert. It would be very easy to conquer this planet and quickly gather any sort of monetary value.**

 **She had been looking forward to this planet for a long time.**

 **As much as she wanted to kill Zordon's legacy, because of what Zordon had meant in an earlier life she had a little respect for him. The mentor that followed him and her sister that hailed from this planet...not so much.**

 **She could not wait to get her hands on Dimitria and her sister Diana and make Dimitria in particular suffer for what she had done to the honor of Ranger mentors everywhere.**

 **It was fitting that this would be her first conquest.**

 **Not too much longer they were on the planet itself and rapidly approaching the capital city.**

 **"My Lady, the main city is within range. Your orders?" Scorpina said.**

 **"You and I are going to the main palace to confront this planet's King while Draco and his army terrorizes everything in sight," Flammia said as she turned to Draco. "Any sign of Dimitria or Diana, Draco, you know what to do. Go, and show them no mercy."**

 **"Vipera, you are to find any monetary value this planet has. Whatever it has, you bring it to me. Anyone gets in your way you know what to do. If Dimitria or Diana show their face, bring them to me."**

 **"Squalus, you and your band of Landers are to terrorize all major cities you see. Any sort of crops you see along the way, destroy them. Cut this planet's food supply off. Now go."**

 **"Marlotta," she said as she turned to another of her generals, who led a disgusting battalion of beetles, "your mission is to drain the life force out of each and every person you see and bring that life force back here."**

 **"Yes ma'am," he said as he left with his army.**

 **Even as she was giving out orders, she fired a few shots aimed at the city and designated spots. Already the capital city was lit up in flames and people were running for their lives.**

 **Flammia grinned as she and Scorpina teleported directly into the palace shocking everyone.**

 **"What is the meaning of this?" King Queary of Inquiris said as he watched in horror as his entire city went up in flames. "How can my city possibly be in such a terrible state?"**

 **"Shut up, old man!" Flammia said. "Even now, your planet is under siege and at the mercy of my army."**

 **Through her magic, she called up a visual. The attack was working like a charm. The other cities were being terrorized by Squalus and his army, Vipera and her Vipers were finding all treasure available (the Inquirians, not suspecting an attack had not hidden their treasure well enough), people across the planet were getting the life force drained out of them while Draco had found both Dimitria and Diana right away and had them by both their throats.**

 **"How could this..." Queary started.**

 **"SILENCE!" Scorpina bellowed. "If you want Dimitria or Diana to live again, then you will surrender this planet to us immediately! Your planet now belongs to the Great Flame of Destruction!"**

 **"Oh God..." Queary said. "Maligore's influence isn't dead."**

 **"That's right and I'm his last remaining child, enemy of all that is good and true. Now surrender this planet or they die!"**

 **Queary at this point had no choice. Dimitria and Diana weren't perfect but they were his best friends.**

 **"OK, I surrender, I surrender!" Queary pleaded.**

 **"What was that you said?" Scorpina asked.**

 **"I surrender, now let them go!"**

 **"Draco, put them down, and bring them here. Throw them in prison and I'll have fun with them later," Flammia said.**

 **"You said you'd let them go!" Queary pleaded.**

 **"I said I'd let them live but I am not letting them go for everything they did to me and my former friends. I'm going to make sure my generals have lots of fun with them. Best part is, you can join them," Scorpina said. "Daughter, take them away."**

 **"No, let me go!" Queary shouted as he was led away by Nepa and several of Flammia's body guards.**

End Flashback

The part of Kimberly that still remains felt a little sorry for the people of Inquiris that day. No doubt they were a good, hard working, smart people.

And yet, when she thought about it, it felt so good to hear Dimitria and Diana begging for her evil half's mercy. Two of the most powerful beings in the universe were no match for a mere former mortal girl. Just the mere presence of her evil half terrified the two girls, which made her completely satisfied.

However, the conquests her evil half would embark on next would cut at her heart more and more as the years went by.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	8. 7: Andresian Annihilation, Mirinoi Mash

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually. We've got two chapters and an epilogue after this one before we end this story and move on to the main event.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot thanks to some decisions she made and now she is a cruel, violent, vicious conqueror. This chapter would be the continuation of her conquests; this time she goes to Andresia and Mirinoi for totally different reasons.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 7: Andresian Annihilation, Mirinoi Mashing

 **September 2011**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

"Gratha is all yours, my Lady. 100% under your control," Stilio said. Stilio was standing in the Royal Grathian Palace...or rather, what was left of it after it had been utterly conquered by Flammia's dangerous army.

Stilio, who commanded a dangerous battalion of deadly spiders, was a close friend of Vipera and her sector of Temptatonians and after several conquests, Flammia had used the monetary value she had acquired from the various planets she'd conquered to hire Stilio and his dangerous army. Certainly, it wasn't the first or last group of dangerous beings she'd been able to hire for her conquests, but the way Stilio and his battalion of Arachnids had so easily conquered a powerful planet was impressive.

It would strike at the heart of the Rangers too because it was really close to Aquitar.

 **"Excellent. Remain on the planet as its ruler in my name until I give you further orders. Lady Flammia out,"** said Kimberly's evil half as she cut the connection.

While the good part of Kimberly that remained certainly didn't feel sorry for Dimitria or Diana that Inquiris had been conquered, the planets that her evil half had so easily taken afterwards were a different story.

She had now conquered Inquiris, Andresia, Mirinoi, Edenoi, and the last three struck right at the heart of the first set of Rangers; Eltar, where she currently was ruling with an iron fist, KO-35, home of Andros, and now Gratha, closer to Aquitar and where Divatox had tried to take over before.

All of these planets really deserved a better fate than what they got, thought the part of Kimberly that remained. The only good part that kept her sane was that she felt the spirit of the Phoenix growing stronger.

The only thing that could take down her evil half. Her very own flesh and blood was admirably holding off a tough opponent back home. Maybe she'd see a better time if that happened...hopefully.

She found herself reflecting again, this time on a couple of conquests in particular. The conquests of Andresia and Mirinoi. Both deserved better fates for different reasons.

 **Flashback**

 **January, Earth year 2007**

 **Dark Fortress Mark II**

 **"You made another good choice, my Lady," Draco said. "The best part about this planet is this; it's simply a small mining planet. They barely have any sort of army. We can brutalize the people and then take their riches."**

 **"As great as that would be, I have a better idea," Flammia said, an evil smile creasing her face. "We conquer their planet and make their people have a fate even worse than death."**

 **"I think I know what you're thinking, Auntie, if I can guess," young Nepa said. "We make them work their own mines for our benefit?"**

 **"Yes, absolutely. The last planet it was easy to order for mass carnage because I hated two of the most prominent people on it. I actually feel a bit of pity for this planet because they have little to no way of defending themselves," Flammia said, pressing a few buttons on her ship. "We won't need to go down there after what's about to happen. Well, I will go down there to get the terms of surrender but none of you need to. If they want their pathetic lives to continue then this planet will be ours."**

 **The well strategized placement of the blasts that ensued rocked the mining planet to its core, and that's when Flammia used the Dark Fortress Mark II controls to tap into the planet's communication system.**

 **"Citizens of Andresia, I am Queen Flammia, and your planet as of this moment now belongs to me, the Great Flame of Destruction!" Flammia shouted, deep laughter echoing off the walls of her ship. "For those of you who resist, and I see some of you now, take a look at what I am doing to your planet!"**

 **One of the strategized blasts in particular had hit the core of the planet and it was causing earthquakes all over the planet.**

 **"If you want me to spare your pathetic lives, and your planet," Flammia said, "you surrender to me right now and you will work the mines for me. I suggest you make up your minds quickly...after all, it would be a shame to see a planet so rich in value get destroyed."**

 **Flammia could see the people were upset, and so was the King, but there was nothing they could do about it...the planet as a small mining planet had one long protector and he was working on escape as we speak. As it turned out, that lone protector would have to leave the planet again for his safety at a later date...for the very same reason.**

 **"I'll go get the terms of surrender," Flammia told her group of warriors, then turned to a lizard creature and his pack of very similar footsoldiers. "After that, Lacerta, you are to command what happens on this planet. Your top job is to make sure these people work the mines for us or be punished. I doubt that will be difficult to do."**

 **"Yesss, they don't have much to work with," Lacerta answered. "I doubt it will be that hard."**

 **End Flashback**

Kimberly's evil half and her warrior Lacerta had both been correct...the planet had no protection and it was an easy conquest. But it was extremely significant for Flammia as far as monetary value.

Her army was still young, and though she'd conquered a couple of planets, it hadn't really caused a blip on the radar screen. Inquiris hadn't seen Rangers in thousands of years, and Andresia had literally no protection at all.

But Kimberly and her evil half knew what it meant. Andresia mined some of the finest diamonds in the galaxy and the people of the planet were mining those diamonds for her evil half and her army. The monetary value she would get from this planet would help Flammia down the road. It would help her acquire top of the line weaponry and soldiers as she continued adding to her vast, expansive army.

She knew that the planets her evil half wanted to conquer had stiffer protection. Edenoi was the home of Alpha 5 and the Masked Rider, Mirinoi was the home of the former Lost Galaxy Power Rangers with the exception of Karone who had taken up residence on Earth with Zhane, Triforia had Trey and who knew what else, Eltar was Eltar, Aquitar had Billy and the "fish Rangers" as she called them and Earth was Earth.

The next planet her evil half had gone after was Mirinoi. Mirinoi, which unbeknownst to everyone in the galaxy but she and her evil half, held a bargaining chip that would prove very valuable at a later date. This attack had been particularly brutal.

 **Flashback**

 **March, Earth year 2009**

 **Mirinoi**

 **Flammia watched in glee as she oversaw the attack on the planet. The planet was already overwhelmed and, as usual, leading the charge were Draco and his deadly Flamers and Scorpina and Nepa, who led a battalion of Tengas into the battle.**

 **What was left of Kimberly's good half...and Flammia didn't know how that still persisted...was no doubt cringing as the Lost Galaxy Power Rangers, who had predictably taken up the Quasar Sabers again when the planet had been attacked, were being overwhelmed.**

 **"Agh!" Leo Corbett shouted as Scorpina and Nepa performed a double slash on him. Leo had been brutalized for 30 straight minutes and no one had any idea how he he was holding onto his morph.**

 **"These two bitches make Trakeena look like a choir girl!"**

 **"Tell me about it!" Maya and Kendrix said as they fought Draco and were going nowhere doing it. "This guy's hard as a rock! Who are these guys anyways?"**

 **"Your worst nightmare," Draco rasped. "You're going to wish you were fighting Trakeena and Scorpius once we finish this off!"**

 **Not 20 minutes later, the battle was decisively over; the Rangers morphs failed and the Quasar Sabers were broken, and all collected by Flammia's army. The Rangers were short handed to begin with as Mike the Magna Defender was out on business on Earth, and the force of Flammia's army was simply overwhelming.**

 **"Powerless Rangers, how does it feel to lose?" Flammia taunted. She had every right to, she'd beat a powerful team.**

 **"My Lady, can we just kill them now? It's less Rangers to deal with," Scorpina said.**

 **"No, I have a better idea. Take them to my ship and have them thrown in the dungeon. They will be useful later."**

 **"In the meantime, General Adonis," Draco said as he turned to one of his top Generals, "you and some Flamers take this planet over and keep it under control in our Queen's name. I will be checking in from time to time."**

 **"Let us go you bastards!" Kai said.**

 **"Now now, Powerless Blue Ranger is that any way to talk to the person that's going to keep you alive? At least for now?" Flammia said as her army dragged the six Power Rangers to her ship.**

 **"You won't get away with this, witch!" Maya said.**

 **"Oh spare me, the bad guys have heard that plenty of times. We already have gotten away with it. And news flash honey, I'm not just some witch," Flammia laughed as she reached the ship with her newest captives.**

 **End Flashback**

Of all the planets she'd conquered, until the more recent ones, Mirinoi had hit her the hardest, for the simple reason that Mirinoi had former Power Rangers on it. And a very good group of former Power Rangers it was.

Unlike her evil half who constantly trashed Trakeena for not destroying the six Rangers that her evil half was currently leading onto the Dark Fortress Mark II, the good side of Kimberly that still remained knew how evil and twisted Trakeena and Scorpius truly were. Their army was no picnic either.

The good side of Kimberly especially felt for Kendrix Morgan-Corbett (now Leo's wife) who had been through so much in her life. Kendrix was a fellow Pink and Kimberly admired her as she felt Kendrix had successfully upheld the Pink legacy.

It was what it was though, Jayden had to be kept alive at all costs, even if it meant taking a group of Rangers hostage and taking another planet.

The bad part now was that her evil half was starting to to feel comfortable and things were getting out of control. Her evil half was so ruthless now as had been demonstrated in the fight with the overmatched Lost Galaxy team that it wasn't even safe for evildoers to be around her evil half. If they weren't on her team Flammia could easily get rid of them in much the same way she'd dominated Lothor twice.

Kim's good half, upon reflection, knew it was only a matter of time before her evil half started to take aim at planets that were significant to Zordon and his first set of Rangers. Let's face it, if you were going to conquer the universe, you could only conquer so many planets like Andresia and Mirinoi, and Tommy and the gang had cared very little about the ties to Inquiris.

Unfortunately for planets like Edenoi, Eltar, KO-35 and Triforia, they were going to and had now suffered the same fate that these other planets had.

It was a sad story, but there was only one person who could be the cure...and if he didn't survive Master Xandred, then it was all over.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	9. 8: Edenoi Endings, Eltarian Evisceration

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually. We've got one chapter and an epilogue after this one before we end this story and move on to the main event.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot. This chapter would be the continuation of her conquests; this chapter involves the planets of her good side's two Command Center mentors, Edenoi and Eltar.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 8: Edenoi Endings, Eltarian Evisceration

 **September 2011**

 **Eltarian Capital City**

 **Eltar**

The good side of Kimberly Hart...or what was left of that good side, trembled as she heard the one known as General Finch report through a communication device...from some place that she knew not. The news was not good, she knew.

"Triforia is now under your command, my Queen," came the raspy voice of General Finch, who served under the command of Draco's army. "We completely overran them. Triforia's defenders can't hold a candle to us. Trey and the Phantom Ranger tried to stop it, but they were helpless to do so."

A devilish smile came over the face of the evil side of Kimberly. Another planet that Eltar, and Earth, held dear was now under the control of her evil side, joining KO-35 on that exclusive list. She'd conquered others as well but these were the big ones.

 **"Excellent,"** her evil side rasped. **"And did you do what I asked you to do with Trey and that ruby wearing Ranger?"**

"Yes, my queen, we have sequestered them helpless in their own Palace," Finch rasped. "My lead lieutenant Jorus and his men are watching them closely. We made sure to tell them that one false move and the Lost Galaxy Rangers, along with the Masked Rider die on the spot. Trey will not be of any assistance to Earth's teams when we go there."

 **"Wonderful, General Finch,"** Flammia said. **"And what of the monetary value?"**

"Spotty as compared to some other places my Queen, but good value can be had in the right places here. The queen kept some very expensive things here," Finch said.

What was left of the good side of Kimberly cringed. All the important planets were being conquered one by one. She'd never met Trey but she'd heard about him. If not for him the Machine Empire would be ruling right now.

 **"Very well, General Finch. Be happy, but just know that any time I need you, be prepared and trained to answer the call. When we get to Earth, I will likely need most in my army if we are to conquer it. Do I make myself clear?"** Flammia said.

"Yes, my Queen," Finch said as he cut the connection short.

As her corrupted body sat on the throne that once belonged to Eltar's ex-Queen Rhiannon and ex-King Darien, she reflected on how, compared to other conquests, these recent ones had cut much, much deeper than the rest. The last two that she'd overseen, in particular, had been rough because Edenoi and Eltar played a major significance in her time as a Ranger.

 **June, Earth year 2009**

 **Dark Fortress Mark II, somewhere in space near Edenoi's orbit**

 **All those past conquests had been nice. To this day, Dimitria and her sister Diana, the former Divatox, still were considered her prisoners on their own planet. Andresia was nice because she was getting great monetary value from that planet, plus she was forcing the people of that planet to work the mines for her.**

 **And she had the Lost Galaxy Rangers as her prisoners; a very nice bargaining chip indeed. She'd only wished Karone was with them knowing the ties the former Astronema had to that planet. Unfortunately she was on Earth and married, but Flammia promised herself to rectify that; that was for another time though.**

 **In the meantime, though, these next planets were vital in the sense that she had to let the Earth Rangers know she wasn't playing around. She had to hit the planets that would hit them the hardest; those closest to Zordon. Conquering those planets would be worth their weight in gold.**

 **The first of those was Edenoi. Flammia smiled at this; this was going to be fun. She had a distinct advantage as her top general Scorpina had inside knowledge of the planet; she was born there and was close with King Lexian in an earlier life. She knew where he lived, knew the hierarchy, knew just who to get to and how to make the planet suffer.**

 **Scorpina also reminded her that there were two beings on the planet, one being robotic (Flammia's alter ego had shared a close relationship with this being) and one being the legendary Masked Rider who could prove huge bargaining chips. The girl known as Kimberly had not met Dex, so Scorpina had told Flammia just how to handle him.**

 **"Everybody know the plan?" Flammia addressed her massive army who all nodded. They'd been through this before, but now they were going to take their act to a bigger stage. "Then let's move out."**

 **Edenite Capital City, same time**

 **For many years since Count Dregon had left the planet to pursue interests in destroying the Masked Rider and those associated with him, it had given the people of Edenoi time to regroup. After the defeat of Count Dregon, the planet had returned to its natural environment gradually as the influence of Dregon was no longer felt magically.**

 **To make matters even brighter for Edenoi, Alpha 5 had managed to escape to Edenoi when Eltar had been attacked by Dark Specter, and many years later Dex returned home too. It had been a time of peace for them, and a much needed one.**

 **It was another peaceful day on the planet, which had just about regained its golden form from days gone by. Lexian was busy attending to the matters of the day, and Alpha was helping him try to fix any issues. Elsewhere in the palace, Dex was preparing for the day himself. He was very athletic and loved to do different things to keep in battle shape.**

 **Those were the last few moments of peace before the planetary wide alarm sounded. Before things went to hell in an hand basket.**

 **"Aye yi yi, Lexian, it's the alarm! The planetary wide alarm! That hasn't gone off for a long time!" Alpha wailed.**

 **"We are in trouble once again, Alpha. There is no way to defend our planet from what is coming," Lexian said sadly. "Observe."**

 **Lexian used the crystal on his forehead to visualize what was happening just inside planetary orbit.**

 **"Oh, no! Aye yi yi! That looks like the Dark Fortress only bigger and nastier!" Alpha said.**

 **Suddenly the planet began shaking and the capital city was rocked with laser blasts and fire attacks and Edenites were running for their lives.**

 **"It is very bad, Alpha and it is just as I have feared for a long time. Your mentor's Pink Ranger was never freed from evil's grip and now her army will overrun our planet. She has been building for this moment," Lexian said. If Alpha had a heart it would have dropped right there.**

 **"You must escape to Earth once more and find your mentor's Rangers and the White Ranger's son Jayden. They are the only ones who can save the universe now."**

 **"Oh aye yi yi, poor Kimberly," Alpha said. "If a ship is prepared, I will go."**

 **Not ten minutes after Alpha had left the room, Dex came into the throne room, fully morphed and prepared to fight. It was then that everything changed; shortly after Dex arrived, he and Lexian could hear the sound of teleportation whooshes. Then, Dex and Lexian heard a scream. His senses were on high alert and he pulled out his weapon.**

 **"Electro saber, activate," he called, but was stopped short.**

 **"Not so fast if you want to live there, Dex," a familiar voice said. Dex turned to his right and saw a horrifying sight.**

 **His wife and Dex's grandmother, the Queen, suddenly had a knife to her throat thanks to a girl he'd never seen before. Not only that, Scorpina had teleported in and thanks to her the court jesters lay dead, covered in their own blood.**

 **"You make one move Dex, and I will have my Mistress kill your grandmother. Don't think I won't order it," Scorpina said.**

 **"The hell is going on here?" Dex said.**

 **"Why don't I show you, Dex?" Scorpina said, using the gem on her own forehead to call up an image; like all Edenites she had that capability though she'd never used it against the Earth Rangers before.**

 **All over the planet, it was being ravaged. Cities were being destroyed. Edenites were being slaughtered left and right by Draco, Nepa, and the rest of Flammia's generals.**

 **"What the hell are you doing here, Scorpina?" Dex said. "And who is your 'Mistress?'"**

 **"I am called Queen Flammia, Masked Rider," the small, petite Earth girl said and as Dex got a good look at her, he gasped. This was the widely talked about sixth Ranger that hadn't come to Edenoi the time the other Rangers were there...and the one that had fallen to evil. Clearly, Zordon's sacrifice hadn't freed her.**

 **If Zordon's sacrifice hadn't freed her, then what could?**

 **"I see you are unsure of what to do, so let me help you out," Flammia said. "As we speak, your planet is being overrun by the forces of the Flame of Destruction. This planet will belong to us, one way or another. You have a choice. We can do things the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice."**

 **"The easy way, you and Lexian surrender this planet to me and we take over this planet. You will be slaves, but we will let you live as long as this planet serves us."**

 **Dex hissed under his breath and looked at Lexian.**

 **"The hard way, you resist and fight, and we still take over this planet. But if you resist we will not stop until every last Edenite is dead. Are we clear?" Scorpina added.**

 **Just then, Dex's grandmother kneed Flammia in her private area, causing her to scream and let go of the Queen.**

 **"I know better than what you're offering. Evil never keeps their deals," the Queen said as she drew her staff and looked at Dex as if to say, 'let's get em.'**

 **The skirmish that followed was short and decisive; Scorpina handled the Queen while Dex fought Flammia but Flammia was younger, faster and more athletic and quickly forcibly demorphed Dex. Just then, Dex heard a scream as Scorpina had run her stinger through Dex's grandmother. There was no chance she was alive.**

 **"Jerk!" Dex shouted as he lay broken, brushed and battered.**

 **"Nice try and wise decision not to surrender; we indeed would have killed your grandmother anyway. Too bad you're no match for me," Flammia said. "Nonetheless your planet belongs to us."**

 **That was something that had come true; within hours, Edenoi had surrendered and Nepa had ordered one of her generals to take over as ruler of the planet. To make matters worse, Dex was taken prisoner. Edenoi was living its nightmare once again, only this time there was no Masked Rider to save them.**

 **Unbeknownst to Flammia and her troops, a small ship was leaving the planet as all this was happening, heading directly for Phaedos and Dulcea. He would have gone to Aquitar but robots couldn't function on Aquitar.**

 **End Flashback**

That one had cut pretty deep, Kimberly reflected.

Not only was it the home planet of Alpha 5, she'd met Dex for the first time too and it hadn't gone too pleasantly for him which she was sad to see.

He seemed like a nice guy too, as did Lexian. She only wished that she had been well enough to go there when the others had gone there. Alas, she had been sick and luck hadn't been with her that time. Maybe she should have paid attention to her bad luck back then...

Of course, the planet she was on now, Eltar...that one was the worst. All of Eltar knew of her and her past accomplishments. The elders had begged her to stop her actions. Unfortunately, she still had to worry about Jayden's safety so the good side of her couldn't come to bear.

Those too were a good people and deserved a better fate.

 **Flashback**

 **May, Earth year 2010**

 **Dark Fortress Mark II, near Eltar's orbit**

 **The events on Edenoi seemed to do nothing to get the Earth Rangers' attention, which is what she'd been hoping for. She was frustrated to a degree because she'd kind of been hoping to lure the Earth Rangers into a fight that they could not win. But, nothing had happened.**

 **It was fine in one sense though because the more planets that got conquered, the worse the Earth Rangers looked for not coming to their aid. Perhaps she could use that when she finally did invade Earth.**

 **In a way, Flammia wondered what had happened to her body's good side. She, along with Maligore, assumed that part of Kimberly was dead and gone.**

 **She hoped so, anyways. In any case, Kimberly's good side if it existed had not fought her; it had been very easy to take control of Kimberly's body.**

 **However, as long as the Crane still existed there was still the slightest chance she could be defeated.**

 **In the meantime, this planet was going to be the big notch in her belt. This conquest that she hoped to accomplish couldn't not send shockwaves throughout the universe.**

 **It would get the attention of the Earth Rangers there was no doubt.**

 **"We're in orbit, Mistress," Draco boomed. "The planet does not look heavily defensed."**

 **"Don't let looks fool you, Draco. Don't underestimate anyone least of all Eltarians. Zordon came from here. We will conquer it but keep your eyes on the prize. Everyone move out," Flammia ordered.**

 **As the ship entered the atmosphere, she was surprised that it had gotten in so easily.**

 **She was even more surprised that as they got closer to the capital city, there was little to no resistance. A few stray ships had fired on her, but they had been destroyed within a matter of moments.**

 **What shocked both the good and bad sides of Kimberly though was, as her forces descended on the capital city, it was really easy to invade. How had these guys lived in peace for so long, was the thought going through Flammia's (and Kimberly's) mind?**

 **She expected at least an army of Rangers to confront her like what happened on Mirinoi, or the Masked Rider like what happened on Edenoi, but there were none to be found; as mentioned before, Eltar hadn't seen Rangers in many thousands of years.**

 **Their palace and capital was also extremely poorly defended and ill-equipped to fight; Flammia's forces were slaughtering security and civilians left and right.**

 **Shaking her head, she motioned for a couple of her soldiers to keep watch of the Mark II as she teleported directly into the palace.**

 **"Boy, do I know how to make an entrance or what?" she giggled. "This being Zordon's planet, I'd expect a whole lot better defenses."**

 **"It can't be..." King Darien gasped. Darien's good friend Zordon had talked about the girl standing in front of her, but no one on Eltar had ever seen her like this.**

 **"Apparently news doesn't get around, which is a good thing," Flammia said. "I am Queen Flammia. New ruler of your planet. I'd say you should surrender, considering you have little to no defenses. Where's your little wife, Rhiannon?"**

 **"That's for me to know and you to find out," Darien said, smirking as he did so.**

 **"Please stop this, former Pink Ranger," two of the elders pleaded. "You don't know what you do."**

 **"Please, I know exactly what I'm doing," Flammia said.**

 **"And as for you, perhaps you can keep on feigning ignorance...in the afterlife. That is, unless you wish to surrender and tell me where she is, in which case I'll let you live. I might even let my prisoners live to see the light of day," Flammia said, grunting as she did so.**

 **She thought briefly about sending someone to search for the former Queen Rhiannon, but decided against it.**

 **Taking after Zordon, however, Darien stood defiantly, even though he knew he didn't have a chance in hell. If he was gonna lose he would go down swinging.**

 **"I'll never surrender to the likes of you," he growled.**

 **Darien suddenly gasped as he felt something go through his chest like it was nothing. Scorpina had stabbed him as he was speaking, leaving a gigantic hole in his chest. He fell lifeless to the floor and was dead on the spot, his magical energy leaving him.**

 **"Too freaking easy," Flammia said. "This planet is mine."**

 **As expected, with the King being dead, the planet soon surrendered and the planet's residents were being escorted into their new lives...lives of slavery.**

 **Eltar's time of peace had been rudely disturbed and had given way to a time of great darkness and evil...symbolized when Flammia started chanting a spell that blocked out the sun, and turned the entire planet dark.**

 **It was symbolic of the darkness that was enveloping the entire galaxy.**

 **End Flashback**

What remained of Kimberly never wished for this fate, but here it was.

Had standing by a child for the sake of life, even an evil one, really borne the most sour of fruits?

Her dark side had gotten completely out of control and now, suddenly, had an ironclad grip on a lot of the important planets to the side of light, the latest three being key amongst them.

Worse yet, Zordon had sacrificed himself, the Kerovian Rangers had moved to Earth to live their lives there, and Trey and the Phantom were sequestered in their own palace so they couldn't help in the fight against Earth. The loss of Trey was a very bad thing for sure.

Speaking of Earth, she could still feel the Phoenix spirit, so as far as she knew, Jayden was still alive and fighting Xandred.

That brought to bear another question though: Would Jayden accept what was his destiny? As far as he knew, the Shibas were his parents, not the Olivers.

She hoped and prayed that when Jayden found out about his destiny, that he would understand and accept. If he rebuked his destiny, then the whole galaxy was doomed.

The battle for Earth was coming, and one thing Kimberly, and her evil side knew, it would be a battle to end all battles.

But only Kimberly (or what remained of her) and those close to her good side knew the deciding factor in this battle. Jayden needed to defeat Xandred, and even if he did, he would have to accept his destiny or lose all he held dear.

The battle was coming, but there were still a lot of cards to be played before that point.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	10. 9: Plans

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually. One epilogue after this (focuses on how the Phoenix gets awoken) and then it's the main event...coming very soon.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot. These last chapters will have a little Kim in them, but much more focus on some of the other characters as well.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 9: Plans

 **June, Earth year 2009**

 **Phaedos**

It was early in the morning, and as was her custom every morning, the Master Warrior, Dulcea, was going through her usual meditation.

Usually, the spirits were pretty silent. They had been for many years since Zordon's six Rangers who had fought the intergalactic tyrant Ivan Ooze had gone their separate ways.

Year after year, team after team, Rangers had beat villain after villain and the universe had remained safe. This time, however, was different.

She could feel the spirits were restless. Something was very, very wrong. She reached out with her telepathic powers to feel around Earth. No danger. Things had been deadly silent since the defeat of Dai Shi.

Before she could think anymore, she suddenly felt something enter the planet's atmosphere. Quickly, she went inside her small home on the Ancient Ruins and activated her mirror, since she saw something was trying to contact the planet.

The scenery on her mirror changed to a small ship and it was taking a pounding. Lasers and missiles rocked the ship and suddenly a familiar voice chimed over the communications system.

 **"Alpha 5 to Phaedos, come in, Alpha 5 to Phaedos come in! I need help!"**

"What the...Alpha!" Dulcea cried in shock. "What's happened to you?"

"My planet's been overrun and others have too! I've been chased by bounty hunters ever since I passed Mirinoi! My ship can't last much longer!"

"I'm teleporting you in. Give me a few seconds," Dulcea commanded. Seconds later, Alpha disappeared from the ship, just moments before twin rockets rocked his ship, obliterating it out of sight.

"Oh my circuits! Aye yi yi, thank goodness for you, Dulcea," Alpha said sadly. "I have no home once again."

"No home? What happened?" Dulcea said, her voice laced with fear.

"The evil in Kimberly never disappeared. Her evil side and her army conquered my planet and had it not been for that extra ship that was just destroyed, I would have died," Alpha said.

Dulcea's face dropped like a rock. She knew that 11 years ago, or 11 some odd years ago, Zordon had sacrificed himself to save the universe.

Not all the evil was dead. In fact, the one she hoped would be saved...might never be. Her former protege was now a monster.

"Oh, Alpha," Dulcea said sorrowfully, as she tried to comfort the robot who had been so close to Kimberly and the rest of the original Rangers. Alpha wasn't human and she knew this was just tearing him apart. And she felt the same sorrow.

"I need a place to go, a place to be. A lot of planets have been conquered," Alpha said. "Inquiris, Andresia, Mirinoi, Edenoi have all been conquered and I am sure others are coming. Please tell me she can't get here. Please."

"There is no way I will allow her or her army in here," Dulcea said with firm conviction. "As we speak I am activating one of my stronger spells which allows no one without a power coin on this planet. Sentinel Knight has constructed a similar spell which will keep Kimberly away from Earth."

"You may stay here as long as you wish," Dulcea said, pulling Alpha into a hug.

Tears then pricked Dulcea's eyes for what these planets had lost. She was sure the Lost Galaxy Rangers and Masked Rider had been taken prisoner.

The mighty Phoenix was the only hope for Earth now.

 **May 2010**

 **Aquitar**

16 Earth years ago, there was no way anyone could have dreamed that William Cranston, technical genius extraordinaire, first Blue Ranger of Earth and someone who had grown up in suburbs of Kansas City, MO and Los Angeles, would ever be inclined to live with a group of Rangers who relied on water based powers.

It was well known that even during his teenage years at one point, Billy hated fish. The mere sight of the Goo Fish monster back in the day had driven him into a tizzy, so much so that it had put the Rangers in peril.

People change, though, and that was certainly the case with Billy. He'd spent 14 blissful years on Aquitar, and though he and Cestria weren't together anymore (Cestria had passed away sadly about five years ago), he had no intentions of going anywhere.

It was a relationship that had benefited both Billy and the Aquitians. It had benefited Billy because his travels had afforded him to see not only Aquitar's, but other planets' capabilities and technology. He had been on various other planets especially after Zordon's sacrifice, helping them with their communications systems and helping them to be more technology savvy.

It had benefited Aquitar too, because when Billy got there, their communications were greatly inferior to that of Earth. The regenerative process had helped Billy in a way that Earth did not have, but they still needed work. So Billy had worked constantly with Cestro to get the planet up to speed communication wise.

That work that Billy had put in would now be put to good use, more than ever.

Billy had just taken his 10 year old daughter, Marissa Trini Cranston (her middle name was the same as his first crush Trini, hint hint) to school and was just sitting down in the control room when suddenly, the communication system blared to life.

Billy gasped at what saw come up on screen. That was most definitely an Eltarian based ship. It was heading towards the planet, being chased by two small ships, hot on the Eltarian ship's heels.

Fortunately for Billy, Cestro was just passing by at that very moment and Billy waved him in to look at the situation.

"If that is an Eltarian based ship...and it sure looks like it is, then I fear for what has happened to that planet," Cestro said. "Worse, take a look who is inside."

Cestro then made the visual change to inside the ship, and Billy gasped. That was not just any Eltarian inside that ship...that was their Queen!

"We need to answer the hail, Cestro," Billy said. "If that's Queen Rhiannon then their planet is in danger...or worse. Rhiannon must be brought to safety."

"Got it," Cestro said. "Communication established."

"Aquitar answering your call, this is Billy Cranston," Billy said loud and clear. "What seems to be the problem, Rhiannon?"

"My rulership...the planet as I know it...it's gone, Billy," Rhiannon cried frantically. "We got overrun and we haven't seen Power Rangers in many thousands of years. I need to land on your planet, I was on my way here anyway but I've been pursued since I passed Inquiris."

"Affirmative but when you land I want an explanation of what happened," Billy said, although he had a sneaking suspicion who was behind this.

The Ninjetti powers never truly passed and they always somehow or another knew what each other were doing. He'd been keeping an eye on Kimberly's rising evil army through the years and he was sure Kim had something to do with why Rhiannon was on the way here.

He glanced quickly at the pursuers that were following Rhiannon. They were small crafts, but extremely powerful. He gasped as a wave of fire just missed Rhiannon's ship.

"Cestro, activate the missiles," Billy ordered. "We're going to take out her pursuers."

"Got it, Billy," Cestro responded. A few seconds later he added, "Missiles activated and target locked."

"OK, Sister Crane, you want to play rough? Let's see how you like this. Launch missiles!" Billy ordered as he pressed a red button. From a hidden hatch, four missiles launched from the planet and rocketed towards Rhiannon's pursuers. The pursuers tried to dodge, but the missiles were activated to follow their every move and moments later, the missiles hit their targets, the pilots of these ships ejecting just in time.

"I got her. Bringing her ship in," Cestro said.

"Great, Cestro. Report to the command room and have Delphine and the others meet us there."

 **30 minutes later**

Billy exhaled when he heard Delphine and the others finally arrive; upon her ship landing on the planet, Billy had Rhiannon brought to the command room for this important situation.

"We heard the communication system go off, Billy," Delphine said. "Cestro informed us that we were to come here?"

"Correct, Delphine," Billy said. "The reason why I had you all brought here today is that Aquitar, and the universe, are in danger once again. This is Queen Rhiannon of Eltar who has come to us in refuge."

"Refuge?" Tideus said. "That means..."

"Yes, it means my planet, my home, is conquered once again," Rhiannon said. Her eyes were red and her face clearly showed the stress of the situation. "By one of Zordon's Rangers no less."

"No, not Tommy again," Corcus said; like all Aquitians, he knew of evil Rangers and knew of Tommy's past as an evil Ranger. He would seem to be the prime candidate if any Ranger was to go to the dark side.

"After what happened to my planet, I wish it was Tommy," Rhiannon said. "How many of you know of Zordon's first Pink Ranger?"

"Katherine?" Delphine said. "She was evil too."

"Negative, Delphine, there was one before her," Billy said sighing as he pulled a picture out of his pocket. The picture was of a petite, five foot brunette wearing Zordon's Pink Ranger uniform. Billy had one such picture of each Earth Ranger that he'd served with.

"That's the one, that's her," Rhiannon said. "Kimberly I believe she's called, or was called in an earlier life. She's now Queen Flammia."

"Kimberly and I knew each other since kindergarten, well before we became Rangers," Billy said. "We were also two of the six Ninjetti that defeated Ivan Ooze."

"The Ninjetti are only myth," Delphine said.

"Wrong, Delphine," Billy said, "they are real and without them, Ivan Ooze would be ruling right now. The Master Ninjetti, Dulcea, still lives in fact. You never see her because she cannot come off her plateau lest she age."

"I can attest to that," Rhiannon said. "I've known Dulcea for a long time. We are close friends from way back. The Ninjetti are very powerful. You have all heard of the latest Earth team?"

"Jungle Fury," Billy said.

"Yes, their methods are very similar to the Ninjetti, just that the Ninjetti are more advanced," Rhiannon said.

"Unfortunately for Kim, there were some things that happened to her when she went to pursue some dreams of hers. Dirty laundry that I'd rather not air in front of all of you. This is an original team issue. The Flame of Destruction, the powerful Flame of Destruction corrupted her and thus, you saw the monster she is today. To my knowledge this happened shortly after I got here," Billy said, getting back on topic. "I have been watching her every movement for the last number of years."

"Shouldn't she have been turned back when Zordon was sacrificed?" Cestro pointedly asked.

"Very good point," Billy said. "I do find it weird she was never turned back. I will have to look into that. It may be some sort of personal issue...gosh I hope it's not."

"In any event, she has been slowly gaining an iron grip on the entire universe," Billy said. "You know she'd been conquering planets, Rhiannon, why weren't you prepared for her to invade?"

"Becauase Eltar hasn't seen Power Rangers in a number of years, not since Zordon's team. We are not a planet of fighters, we are a planet of scholars and artists," Rhiannon said. "We had no way of defending ourselves and there was no way I was going to hire mercenaries who didn't have ties to our planet."

"Fair point, but all I know is she knows I'd be waiting for her if she tried to invade this planet," Billy said. "I forgive you but when this is all over, Eltar's going to be more prepared to defend itself from invasions. It's too easy to invade the planet now."

"In the meantime, we must focus now on more pressing issues. Cestro, contact Phaedos and Dulcea right now," Billy ordered. "No wait, I'll do it myself. Instead, Cestro, raise the shields on the planet so that no one gets in the atmosphere of this planet on pain of death."

"Got it," Cestro said as he went to work. Meanwhile, Billy fiddled with buttons until he had what he wanted. Sure enough, Dulcea's face appeared on screen moments later. The Aquitian males all gasped...Dulcea had a physique that every woman wanted and every man from any part of the universe wanted to be with.

"Dulcea here, who is calling us?" Dulcea said.

"Oh, Dulcea I think you remember who I am," Billy said.

Dulcea allowed her face to form a small smile at seeing one of the six who had come to her many years ago.

"William, my Wolf, it is good to hear from you," Dulcea said. "How go things?"

"Up until this morning, things were going peachy," Billy said. "However we got a visitor today. I think you know her."

Billy stepped aside and Rhiannon stepped forward so Dulcea could see her.

"Rhiannon, what happened?" Dulcea said. "It looks like you have been through the wringer!"

"That's because I have my friend," Rhiannon said. "She got me too. My rulership...it's gone."

"You mean Eltar is now under Kimberly's control?" Dulcea said.

"We had no time to prepare and we have not seen Rangers in forever," Rhiannon said. "I am taking refuge on this planet until further notice. Cestro has assured me that Kimberly's army cannot come into this planet's orbit on pain of death."

"That is a smart plan," Dulcea said. "Alpha 5 was chased off Edenoi for the same reason. Dex is currently one of her prisoners."

"That news makes me sad," Billy said. "That's one ally we cannot count on for the foreseeable future. You said Alpha was chased off?"

"Yes, in fact he's been spending the last year or so with me. I find him good to have around, just as Zordon did," Dulcea said. "You know if she invades Earth you'll have to go back right?"

Billy sighed; like all of Zordon's Rangers he'd read and retread the Phoenix prophecy. Any fight between Kim's evil side and the Phoenix would require all of Zordon's past Rangers.

"I know, Dulcea," Billy said. "But she won't invade Earth for a while, correct?"

"No, not for a while," Dulcea affirmed, "but she will be there eventually. In the meantime, you stay where you are. You will know when to go back; the Wolf will guide you home."

"Tell Alpha hi for me," Billy said.

"I will, Billy," Dulcea said. "And Rhiannon, don't feel bad about Flammia conquering your planet. Yours is not the first she's conquered nor will it be the last. Keep yourself safe."

"May the Power protect you, Dulcea," Billy said.

"And you too. Until we meet again, Billy," Dulcea said as the transmission was cut.

"I take it from what she just said, that any fight between Flammia and Zordon's Rangers will be on Earth?" Delphine said.

"Yes, just like most of the major battles have. Of all the planets out there, Earth is the most well protected because it has so many Rangers to defend it," Billy said. It's also the home of the chosen one, the Phoenix. Our only hope to get Kim back and save the whole galaxy from destruction."

"The Phoenix? You mean, the most powerful Ninjetti?" Cestro said.

"Yes, the one that comes from the two most powerful Rangers ever, his father and his mother," Billy said. "My nephew, Jayden. It's a complicated story."

 **January 2012**

 **Eltar**

Flammia grunted in frustration.

"Curse you Earth Rangers and curse you Dulcea!" Flammia shouted in frustration. Somewhere deep inside, she knew the insignificant worm that was the Crane was smiling but she didn't care.

Granted, she had a lot of what she wanted. Riches, power and planets. But like any conqueror, she thirsted for more.

That having been said, she'd found out from soldiers of her generals that there were protection spells around several planets she desired. Phaedos, no chance, protection spell. Aquitar, even stronger protection spell. That damned Cranston was getting on her nerves.

And certainly Earth was a double no-go. Not only had that damned Sentinel Knight put a powerful protection spell on the planet, but the planet also had a would be conqueror as well, in the dangerous Master Xandred and his band of Nighloks.

"Mistress, allow me to calm your nerves," Scorpina said. "While we maybe can't conquer these planets you wish to have, we can torture what we do have. Put our prisoners to work and make it really hurt. Make them work for us and plant the seeds of the destruction of all they hold dear."

A cruel, cruel smile crossed Flammia's lips. Scorpina always seemed to have the answer and she'd done it again.

She allowed herself to imagine what she'd be like with her own war machine, causing destruction and mayhem in Angel Grove, Reefside, LA and everywhere else on Earth. It would be magical.

"If I may for just a moment, Mistress," Serpentes, Vipera's brother and commander of his own fleet of dangerous cobras, said. "I take pride in my smarts and my technical expertise. Over the years, I have studied past Ranger battles and gleaned some important information on what it would take to build a battle machine like they have."

"Serpentes told me that it would be a project, but if we could find the materials necessary and put our prisoners to work in building a battle machine for you, it may make the difference between victory and defeat," Vipera said. "It's not conquering planets but we can be doing something productive with our time."

Flammia smiled in admiration. Truly, she had the best generals one could ever ask for.

"Yes, I like that idea," she said cruelly. "Go find the materials necessary, Serpentes and then set our prisoners to work."

 **Meanwhile, deep inside, what was left of the Crane had of course heard every word. The thought of her evil half having a Zord to destroy California with gave her the shivers.**

 **She too had kept an eye on the battle between the Samurai Power Rangers and the Nighloks, of course. She could feel Jayden's power growing by the moment, and all it needed was that one big moment where he could seize his destiny.**

 **Unbeknownst to Jayden, that dormant power had protected him against that crazed lunatic Nighlok formerly known as Madimot. Though Madimot had made a little effort to turn Jayden against his friends, it hadn't been a prolonged effort, he'd sought to destroy Jayden instead. That had been a scary fight.**

 **She only prayed that he could beat Xandred; it was only by defeating Xandred that he could save the entire universe.**

 **'Come on Jayden, one time...' she thought to herself.**

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	11. Epilogue: The Phoenix Awakens

A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually. This is the epilogue of this story and how Jayden's dormant power awakens. Based around the Samurai episode "Fight Fire with Fire." Hints of Jaymia in this story.

A/N 2: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Epilogue: The Phoenix Awakens

 **May 11, 2012**

 **The Shiba House**

 **Panorama City, CA**

It was morning in the Shiba House and the way everyone milled about doing their various activities, one could guess it was just another day.

But ask the Samurai Power Rangers, and they would have vehemently disagreed with you. They were all tense today. Something big was about to happen. It was a feeling associated with every Power Ranger team in history.

One of the things all Ranger teams had in common is they could sense the moment. They could sense the gravity of a certain situation. This was one of those days.

As Mia Watanabe stood at the door to the Shiba House watching Jayden practice, she couldn't explain it but she could feel it more than most.

Why was that? Was it bsecause she loved him so much?

Well, duh, she thought. She knew she loved him. Had loved him since the fake wedding deal. But having been part of the Ranger family and having been exposed to this life at an earlier age, she knew it was typical of Reds. They were too stubborn and thick headed for their own good. She'd loved him though ever since that whole fake wedding thing with Dayu.

There was just something alluring and charming about him, even though he refused to say anything, preferring to keep his mind on work. Still, he was a typical Red.

She chuckled inwardly at the thought of Hunter Bradley, the Crimson Thunder Ranger on her cousin Cam's Ninja Storm team of six. He was the PROTOTYPICAL red...hotheaded, stubborn, skull so thick you probably couldn't breathe in there. Jayden was just like him and every other red. Tori still loved him to death.

Mia was concerned for Jayden, always. And today, she was more tense than usual. Her tenseness increased as someone brought a letter to Mentor Ji, who was standing next to Jayden. Mia gasped at the symbol the letter held.

"The Shiba family crest," Mia said aloud, softly enough that no one could hear. The hell was going on here?

She saw the man she loved more than anyone else in the world take the letter, open it and read it.

She grew even more tense as Mentor Ji said, "We always knew this day would come."

"This changes everything. The other Rangers will finally know my secret," Jayden said. "I hope they'll be able to forgive me."

Mia gasped. All this time, Jayden had been holding a huge secret.

Mia's feeling of nervousness had been right all along. The Samurai Rangers fight with the dangerous Master Xandred had tested them to their limits. Now, it was about to spiral out of control.

And all this time, inside of Jayden, the dormant power was beginning to stir, picking up on the importance of the moment.

 **'You have many more secrets that lie ahead of you, my spirit holder. Your destiny is only just beginning,'** the dormant, majestic spirit bird that lay inside of Jayden said. All it needed was one big moment to awaken...

And Master Xandred's crew, being the impulsive idiots they were, were only too willing to give the Phoenix that moment.

Because at that very moment, Octoroo and Dayu had summoned the dangerous Fiera to use fire from the Sanzu River to hopefully cripple or destroy the Red Ranger.

Little did they know that they would do the exact opposite. That not only would it not happen, but it would be the birth of the greatest Ranger the galaxy had ever seen.

 **Several Hours Later...**

About mid afternoon, the alarms blared from within the Shiba house, causing everyone to meet at the same time in the front room.

Jayden was terse and tense. He could feel a big moment coming on...he got the feeling too that something was coming...and not just what he knew. Something bigger was afoot.

The six Samurais arrived at the park to find the Moogers terrorizing people. They immediately went to work when the coast was clear of all civilians.

"Samuraizer!" They called. "Go, go Samurai!"

"Gold Power!" Antonio called. With the morphs complete, the fight began.

"These Moogers get uglier every time I see them!" Antonio called.

"They're Moogers, they have the market cornered on being ugly," Mike replied.

"Stay focused, pick your targets," Jayden called.

Not two more seconds passed before an ugly, gray and red female bird Nighlok appeared, malice in her eyes and one target on her mind.

"I've picked mine!" The bird known as Fiera called before firing a blue beam from her beaked right hand. It slammed into Jayden before he could react, and the fire that came with it attempted to course through his veins. Little did Fiera or anyone else know that even as these events were happening, a power beyond their wildest description would help save Jayden's life.

Well, his life would have been saved anyways. But the fire of the Phoenix that even now roared through his body was keeping him from being crippled.

As the Rangers wondered what was happening to Jayden, he said in reply, "It feels like my insides are burning up."

 **'Yes, continue with your foolish plan, Fiera. You and your Nighloks are the beginning of the greatest Ranger to ever live,'** thought the bird as its fire flowed through Jayden and even now counteracted the evil Sanzu flames.

"Then let me get you even more fired up," Fiera cackled right before unleashing a devastating onslaught of Sanzu River fire. When it was over, Jayden took cover behind a tree.

"It won't stop burning," he gasped, noting that the Nighlok who had been blasting him was nowhere to be seen. "What are those things?"

Then he noticed the Nighlok was nowhere to be seen. He was confused for just a split second. Big mistake.

"Hello. Want another?" Fiera cackled as she appeared and blasted Jayden again at point blank range. It nailed Jayden, who was in clear agony as the internal battle raged inside Jayden, unbeknownst to anyone.

"Agh! It burns!" Jayden screamed.

Meanwhile, Fiera was smelling blood.

Kevin could see this, as she loaded another blast and fired. Instead of Jayden being hit, Kevin took the hit instead.

"No! That would have finished him!" Fiera screams, frustrated.

Jayden for the moment was grateful Kevin had protected him, giving him a brief reprieve.

"Careful, those blasts are powerful," Jayden warned but Kevin assured his teammate and friend he was barely scratched.

"I think we can block her shots, Rangers," Kevin said and right as Fiera teleported in behind Jayden for another point blank shot, the Rangers flanked him. She fired anyways and while the Rangers took the hits, Jayden got hit too and could feel the burn inside him again.

"Why is this just happening to him?" One of the female Rangers asked.

After Fiera gave the Rangers the explanation of the Shiba clan head's fire symbol power, and the plan to use her fire flashers to make Jayden burn from the inside out, she went back to her attacks, certain that one more blast would finish Jayden for good.

As was the case with most Reds, despite the need the other Rangers believed they had to protect Jayden, he was going to try to do this on his own. He also finally felt an internal battle raging inside him. He used the momentary respite that the Rangers had provided him to mentally latch on to the comfort of the fire that was combating the Sanzu flames.

He didn't even know how he was doing it, but he was able to stand back up again, ready for another round. Unbeknownst to him, it was that comforting fire that was not only combating the Sanzu flames, but giving him the strength to stand up again.

He called for Super Samurai mode, and dared the Nighlok to fight him. Which was exactly what she wanted.

"Nice vest," she shouted as she nailed him point blank again. The burning started all over again, as the comforting fire that he'd held on to started combating the Sanzu flames again.

Jayden wasn't dumb; he knew that even he couldn't take every hit imaginable, even though he couldn't feel quite as much of the evil flames. He had to get to cover somehow.

 **'God, I don't know how much more of this I can take,'** he thought as he ran for cover.

 **'Yeah you can. You have me,'** a reassuring voice sounded inside him as he felt a roaring he that really couldn't describe.

 **'Who the hell are you?'** Jayden thought.

 **'I am you and you are me, my child,'** the reassuring voice told him. **'The reason you can stand and run is because I am even now and have been expunging Fiera's attacks from your body. I am a part of you. She cannot kill you anyways, she can only kill your sister, but she had the potential to injure you to where you can't function normally. Not while I'm around.'**

 **'I'll explain later, but there's no time now. Now watch out. She's about to attack again.'**

 **'Not if I have anything to say about it,'** Jayden thought as he summoned one of his weapons. If this internal voice was trustworthy, and every indication was that it was, he didn't doubt it. **'It's time to fight back.'**

He heard his friends call that she was about to attack, but he knew that already, and he was ready. Now that he knew his life couldn't be ended, he had little to lose. If he went down then this monster would go with him.

"This will finish you!" she shouted as she launched another blast at him. The blast hit him, but this time Jayden had a surprise for his opponent.

"Think again. Say hello to my Bullzooka," he stated as he launched a blast of fire at Fiera, which knocked her off a roof.

Fiera couldn't believe it. What sort of freak was this guy?

"You're supposed to burn up, not me!" she screeched as she exploded in a blast of flames.

As Octoroo and Dayu watched Fiera explode, they wondered the same thing she did.

"If he's the head of the Shiba family, there should have been enough fire symbol power in him to destroy him," Octoroo said. "There's only one explanation."

Dayu agreed with him, but wondered if there wasn't more to it. No mere mortal would be anything less than unconscious from that sort of attack. Yet, Jayden was still conscious. They thought about going over to confront him, but Dayu convinced Octoroo to think better of it.

There was something working in Jayden's favor that Dayu couldn't put her finger on, and to her at this point discretion was the better part of valor. She had a sneaking feeling she'd better watch herself around that Red Ranger.

Meanwhile, Fiera was resurrected and grew to massive proportions, which caused the Rangers to call for their Zords.

The next few minutes were all a blur. He saw the Rangers get tossed around in their Zords, saw their Zords get broken apart, and for a few minutes, he thought about going up there to help him.

 **'No, my child, you must rest,'** the voice inside him said. **'Fiera will be defeated.'**

Just then, he glanced over to the woods and saw the latest arrival. No doubt, the reason Fiera would be defeated.

His sister, the subject of the letter with the Shiba family crest, had come home.

Jayden nodded, he could almost hear Lauren speaking to him, but he just numbly watched as Lauren called on her powers and her Zord. The fight was quick and decisive once the Lion Zord was in full gear.

"Mega Blade, activate," Lauren called, even though Jayden couldn't hear it from below he could see it. "Pentagonal Fury."

The resulting attack consumed Fiera and this time, she was done for good.

"Samurai Rangers, victory is ours," Lauren called. Jayden would have heard it, but he was still resting below.

The thing was, now that his sister was back, what was going to happen to him?

Almost as if his question was being asked he received his answer.

 **'You must leave them at least temporarily my child,'** the voice inside him said.

"No," he muttered aloud, "please don't make me do this. They won't understand."

 **'I didn't say it would be forever. It may be, and it may not be. But at this moment, there is only one true Red Samurai Ranger and this is her spotlight. You know this, my child,'** the voice inside him said. **'Besides, you have some loose ends to tie up elsewhere.'**

 **'Like the Deker problem,'** the voice finished, almost answering his question for him.

"No, God no please not Deker again," he muttered.

 **'Yes, Jayden. The Deker problem must end, if for no other reason than it has gone on too long. There is more history behind that, and you will find out more later. The duel must be fought as much as it pains me to say it.'**

Moments later, the rest of the Rangers appeared, all propping Jayden up as best they could. Though he would regain his strength eventually, he was very, very worn out. Fiera's attack, while not crippling, had left its mark. Then, Lauren appeared, and demorphed, showing her face to the Rangers for the first time. Naturally, it was Mia, the one of the current Rangers who loved Jayden most, who didn't jump to conclusions and fire off a million questions.

 **Later That Night**

 **The Shiba House**

The second they had arrived back at the house, the seven Rangers excepting Jayden and Lauren were in the main room, as Mentor Ji told them of what had happened back in Lauren and Jayden's youth and Jayden's father's final fight with Xandred.

It had been really hard for the Rangers to learn of what Jayden and Lauren had gone through in their youths, but it was especially hard for Mentor Ji. He couldn't tell the Rangers, or Jayden, the REAL truth about Jayden's history. Not yet.

Ji was beyond thankful that Jayden had leaned on the dormant powers that lay inside of him or he would have been much worse off. He was quite sure Jayden didn't have a clue about what these powers were. Nor would he unless Xandred was either beaten or sealed.

Meanwhile, Jayden was back in his own room, licking his wounds from that massive assault. He was still tired, but he found he had more energy than he thought he did.

And all that time, the voice inside his head spoke to him over and over again.

 **'You still must leave them in the morning, young Jayden.'**

 **'Please don't make me do this, whoever you are. It's going to disrupt the flow of the team.'**

 **'If only it were that easy, my child. Like I said, there are loose ends that need to be tied up and soon. The Rangers, as important as they are, can wait. You must go alone indefinitely. You know your sister is the true Red Ranger as it is.'**

 **'You will play a far greater role in the fate of this world down the line. In the meantime, you must leave your team.'**

Jayden sighed, defeatedly. He couldn't turn his back on that comforting power that had helped him vs Fiera. And whoever this voice was, was right. Lauren's role in the fight with Xandred had to come to fruition.

As he drifted off to sleep, he hoped the others wouldn't be mad at him.

If he'd have stayed awake just a little bit longer, he would have noticed a silhouette creep across the wall, as the figure made itself carefully away from Jayden's room.

"I am sorry young Jayden, but this is how it has to be," a voice said as the figure standing outside went to talk with Mentor Ji.

 **May 12, 2012**

 **Around Noon**

 **The Shiba House**

 **Panorama City, CA**

"Well, look who's finally up," Antonio said as Jayden made his appearance. "It's your sister's homecoming, and we've even got cake!"

The Rangers mood changed quickly though. There was something off about Jayden. This was confirmed when Jayden handed Lauren the box which held his Samuraizer.

This couldn't be...

"You all need to follow Lauren now," Jayden said. "She is the new Red Ranger and your leader."

He contemplated briefly on whether to tell the Rangers if he was coming back. Since he honestly didn't know, he felt it would be best if they prepared for life without him in case he didn't return.

"I'm going away," he said. Emily was confused and Mike asked him if it was on a trip, but he shook his head and said, "permanently."

The Rangers vehement disapproval was evident, as Jayden knew it would be. But he stood firm.

What he, or the others, didn't know was that Jayden's journey was just beginning.

 **1492 Valencia Drive**

 **Reefside, CA, same time**

In addition, what no one in the Shiba house knew, except Mentor Ji because a trust and respect had been built between Ji and Jayden's biological father, was that the conversation was being watched.

Dr. Thomas Oliver, as Jayden's biological father, was not happy. Not at all. He had the Dodgers game and Vin Scully in one ear, but the other ear was focused on the conversation 90 minutes away.

He knew Jayden was taking orders from the dormant powers inside him. But that wasn't any consolation for him, or Jayden, whatsoever. Jayden was having to go against his friends, against his very own will. And for what?

A duel to the death? Or at least, that a Ranger was going to be severely hurt?

Even worse, unbeknownst to anyone in the Shiba house was this was a fight that didn't need to happen. A fight between former Rangers. Red Rangers no less.

The other participant in the fight had a tormented history himself; he had been the one to destroy Serpentera 10 years ago, and had led a blissful life with one of his former teammates, Alyssa, but thanks to awful luck while he was out in the woods on a run, had been transformed into the monster his son would have to face. His family had been torn apart, just as the real Deker's family had.

But then, what were torn families anyways it seemed? Just so a damn prophecy could be fulfilled? Was this the price they all had to pay?

Jayden's upcoming opponent was known to those in the Shiba house as Deker, but Tommy knew him as Cole Evans.

He turned to the figure next to him, who he considered a longtime ally, but right now he was boiling.

"I hope you and that Phoenix spirit inside Jayden know what the hell they're doing, Ninjor," Tommy said sternly. "If Jayden gets hurt at all, someone's going to be responsible for this."

"You know this fight has to happen, Falcon," Ninjor said. "None of us like it any more than you do. But, you need to be very careful right now."

"Why?"

"You and the Crane are still connected. If your anger gets too out of control, Kimberly's evil half could find out the truth," Ninjor said truthfully.

That shut Tommy up pretty quick and he sat down and slumped back in his chair.

Now that was something that COULD NEVER happen. If the Crane's evil side found out about Jayden...

Tommy knew now there was nothing he could do. He knew Cole had honor, and didn't blame him for the situation as it was just bad luck, but that didn't make him any less scared. Urumasa's control was very strong and this would be a fight to see who survived.

10 years after saving the world from Venjix and Serpentera, there was a chance Cole could destroy all hope for the world.

"Lean on your newly awoken powers, Jayden, please," Tommy murmured and Ninjor nodded solemnly. This was a very dangerous situation. One bad day and all hope could be lost.

 **The End...for now**

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please review/follow/favorite if you wouldn't mind. Thanks. Keep your eyes open for the next part of this series!**


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